Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from C. BERRY Cruise

June to November 1966 temperature-depth profiles from the C. BERRY vessel in the North and South Pacific Oceans. Data was collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) and processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format. The dataset captures the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (0-285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying seasonal ocean temperature changes in the Pacific from June to November 1966.
• Correlating cruise location, date, and time metadata with observed temperature profiles.
• Providing a historical baseline for comparisons with modern oceanographic data.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented NODC standard format (C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides specific temporal coverage from 1966-06-21 to 1966-11-22 for a focused analysis period.
• Records temperature at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating systematic profile analysis.
• Cross-platform presence on data.gov indicates recognized archival importance.

Limitations

• Key technical details are missing, including row count, file size, and specific column names.
• MBT instrument limits observations to a maximum depth of ~285m, restricting analysis to the upper ocean.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata exists between platforms (2026 vs. 1966), creating uncertainty about provenance updates.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originating from the C. BERRY vessel cruise.

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1966-06-21 to 1966-11-22

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:16:28.652276

Geography

North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean