North Pacific Ocean Temperature Profiles from Cayuse and Yaquina Cruises

This dataset contains bathythermograph (MBT) data collected during the CAYUSE and YAQUINA cruises in the North Pacific Ocean over a two-week period from July 31 to August 13, 1969. Processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format, it provides paired temperature-depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. The data is useful for studying the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying short-term ocean temperature variability during summer in the North Pacific.
• Validating or calibrating historical ocean model simulations for the late 1960s.
• Investigating cruise-specific oceanographic conditions using reported cruise information, date, position, and time.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency.
• Provides high vertical resolution temperature data recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Contains precise temporal and spatial context with cruise dates, positions, and times reported for each observation.

Limitations

• The dataset is limited to the upper ocean, with a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1969-08-13 on NASA Earthdata).
• Key metadata such as row count, file size, specific column names, and license information are unavailable.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originally from NODC.

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instruments aboard research vessels.

Time Range

1969-07-31 to 1969-08-13

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:55:11.448923

Geography

North Pacific Ocean