Mediterranean Sea Temperature Profiles from the COLUMBUS Cruise

NOAA NCEI provides mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data collected by the COLUMBUS in the Mediterranean Sea during April 1968. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed into the NODC standard C128 format. This data documents the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the Mediterranean Sea's upper ocean in April 1968 using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying seasonal or historical changes in near-surface ocean heat content by examining temperature profiles.
• Validating regional ocean model outputs for the Mediterranean using in-situ temperature observations from a known cruise track.
• Investigating spatial temperature gradients during the cruise using reported position, date, and time for each profile.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring a consistent structure for analysis.
• Provides specific temporal coverage from 1968-04-01 to 1968-04-29 for a focused historical period.
• Includes precise metadata for each observation, such as cruise information, position, date, and time.

Limitations

• Key technical details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from the provided sources.
• The MBT instrument's maximum observation depth of ~285m limits analysis to the ocean's upper thermal layer only.

Provenance

Source

NOAA NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information)

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the COLUMBUS vessel and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1968-04-01 to 1968-04-29

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:45:23.563322

Geography

Mediterranean Sea