Historical Bathythermograph Data from the Coral and Pacific Oceans

Bathythermograph data from the vessel CHANDELEUR provides temperature-depth profiles for the upper ocean layers. The dataset contains observations from the Coral Sea, North Pacific Ocean, and South Pacific Ocean. It was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying historical ocean conditions in the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean regions.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with temperature observations.
• Examining temperature data recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a consistent standard format (NODC C128).
• Provides a specific temporal coverage from 1943-01-28 to 1944-06-05.
• Covers multiple ocean regions: Coral Sea, North Pacific, and South Pacific.

Limitations

• Row count, column names, and exact dataset size are unknown.
• Instrument limitation: MBT data is only useful for the upper ocean layers, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Conflicting metadata: 'last updated' dates differ significantly between platforms (2026 vs. 1944).

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC.

Time Range

1943-01-28 to 1944-06-05

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:30:21.613359

Geography

Coral Sea, North Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean