Mechanical Bathythermograph Data from Cayuse Cruise

This dataset contains mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) temperature-depth profiles collected during the CAYUSE cruise in the North Pacific Ocean on May 3-4, 1971. Processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format, it provides paired temperature-depth values at uniform 5-meter intervals. The data is hosted by NOAA NCEI and is also listed on NASA EarthData, indicating its cross-platform importance for historical oceanographic research.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m depth) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying short-term oceanographic conditions in the North Pacific via cruise, date, position, and time metadata.
• Calibrating or validating historical ocean temperature models with data recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized NODC format (C128), ensuring consistency for analysis.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at a uniform 5-meter depth interval, facilitating direct comparison.
• Cross-platform presence on NOAA NCEI and NASA EarthData signals its recognized value for the scientific community.

Limitations

• The dataset is extremely limited in temporal coverage, containing only two days of data from 1971.
• The mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument has a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters, restricting analysis to the ocean's upper layer.
• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and exact file size are unavailable from the provided sources.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the CAYUSE cruise.

Time Range

1971-05-03 to 1971-05-04

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:12:23.595284

Geography

North Pacific Ocean