Mechanical Bathythermograph Profiles from RV Columbus Cruise

Temperature-depth profiles from the RV Columbus collected in the North Atlantic Ocean during November 1967. The dataset contains pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format. It provides a snapshot of the thermal structure of the upper ocean layers for a specific three-day cruise.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean up to 285 meters depth using paired temperature-depth columns.
• Studying short-term oceanographic conditions during a specific cruise using reported date, position, and time data.
• Calibrating or validating historical ocean model outputs for the North Atlantic region.
• Investigating the methodology and data standards of historical mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) observations.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known, documented standard format (NODC C128).
• Provides precise temporal and spatial context with cruise information, date, position, and time reported for each observation.
• Temperature data is recorded at a consistent, high-resolution interval of 5 meters.

Limitations

• The dataset is limited to the upper ocean, with a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Exact row count, column names, and file size are unknown from the provided sources.
• Data is from a single, brief cruise over three days in 1967, limiting temporal and spatial scope.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1967-11-01 to 1967-11-03

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:00:54.375283

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean (specific cruise track of RV Columbus).