Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles From The Cayuse Cruise

Temperature-depth profiles were collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) during the CAYUSE cruise in the North Pacific Ocean on August 19-20, 1971. The data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format, with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. This dataset provides a snapshot of the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers from a specific historical research expedition.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean on specific dates in August 1971.
• Studying temperature variations with depth (down to ~285m) at recorded cruise positions.
• Using cruise information, date, position, and time metadata to contextualize historical oceanographic observations.
• Investigating short-term (two-day) temperature profile changes in a specific region of the North Pacific Ocean.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency for analysis.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at a uniform 5-meter depth interval, facilitating direct comparisons.
• Cruise metadata (information, date, position, time) is reported for each observation, providing essential context.

Limitations

• The maximum observation depth of ~285m limits utility to studying only the upper ocean layers.
• Key quantitative details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from the provided sources.
• The dataset covers only a very brief two-day period from a single cruise, limiting temporal scope.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the CAYUSE cruise and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1971-08-19 to 1971-08-20

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:34:48.605736

Geography

North Pacific Ocean (specific cruise track positions not detailed).