Mediterranean Sea Upper-Layer Temperature Profiles from 1970

285 meters is the approximate maximum depth for temperature observations in this dataset. It contains mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data from the R/V COLUMBUS cruise, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format. The data provides paired temperature-depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals for studying the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature structure of the upper 285 meters of the Mediterranean Sea.
• Studying short-term thermal variability during a specific cruise from November 3 to 19, 1970.
• Using cruise information, date, position, and time metadata to contextualize oceanographic observations.
• Investigating temperature gradients at standardized 5-meter depth intervals for model validation.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides specific temporal coverage for a 17-day cruise in November 1970.
• Includes essential metadata like cruise, date, position, and time for each observation.

Limitations

• Key quantitative details like total row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2026-03-05 vs. 1970-11-19).
• Observations are limited to a maximum depth of ~285 meters, restricting analysis to the ocean's upper layers.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce.

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Time Range

1970-11-03 to 1970-11-19

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:46:00.792294

Geography

Mediterranean Sea (specific cruise track of R/V COLUMBUS).