Historical Bathythermograph Data from Commander 1958-1966

NOAA NCEI provides mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data collected by the vessel COMMANDER. The dataset contains temperature-depth profiles from the upper ocean layers across the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, and North Pacific Ocean. Observations span from May 1958 to August 1966, processed into the NODC standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical upper ocean thermal structure using temperature-depth value pairs.
• Studying spatial temperature gradients across the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska using position data.
• Examining seasonal or interannual variability in near-surface ocean temperatures from 1958 to 1966 using date and time fields.
• Correlating cruise-based observation patterns with other historical oceanographic datasets.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring structural consistency.
• Provides a multi-year time series from 1958 to 1966 for analyzing decadal-scale changes.
• Includes precise metadata for each observation: cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• Instrument maximum depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Temperature data is recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, which may obscure finer vertical gradients.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2026-04-01 on Data.gov vs. 1966-08 29 on NASA).

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected using mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instruments from the vessel COMMANDER and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1958-05-01 to 1966-08-29

Freshness

2026-04-01 14:58:21.256449

Geography

Bering Sea, Coastal Waters of Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, Gulf of Alaska, North Pacific Ocean.