Mechanical Bathythermograph Profiles from Cayuse Cruise, 1971

Temperature-depth profile data from the mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument aboard the CAYUSE in the North Pacific Ocean. The dataset contains pairs of temperature-depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format. Observations are limited to the upper ocean layers, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, and include associated cruise information, date, position, and time.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature gradient in the upper ocean up to 285m depth using the paired temperature-depth columns.
• Studying short-term thermal variability in a specific region using the precise date, time, and position data for each profile.
• Calibrating or validating ocean mixed-layer models with historical in-situ temperature observations from a standardized format.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known, documented standard (NODC C128 format) ensuring consistent structure.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at a uniform, high-resolution interval of 5 meters.
• Each observation is accompanied by precise metadata including cruise, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• The dataset is extremely limited in temporal coverage, containing only two days of data from December 1971.
• Instrument capability restricts observations to a maximum depth of ~285m, limiting analysis to the upper ocean.
• Core metadata such as row count, column names, and license information are unavailable from the provided sources.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during a research cruise.

Time Range

1971-12-07 to 1971-12-08

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:36:12.835798

Geography

North Pacific Ocean