Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from the R/V Courtney in 1959

5900036 temperature-depth profile pairs were collected by the R/V Courtney using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT). The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) processed the data into the standard C128 format for the upper ocean layers. Measurements span from February 9 to April 8, 1959, across the Caribbean Sea, North Pacific, and South Pacific Oceans.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper 285 meters of the ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying spatial ocean temperature variations across the Caribbean Sea, North Pacific, and South Pacific regions.
• Investigating seasonal oceanographic changes in early 1959 using cruise information, date, position, and time metadata.
• Calibrating historical ocean models with instrument-specific data recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring structured temperature-depth pairs.
• Provides specific temporal coverage from 1959 02 09 to 1959 04 08 for a focused historical analysis.
• Includes precise geographic coverage across three major ocean basins: Caribbean Sea, North Pacific Ocean, and South Pacific Ocean.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, file size, and license are unavailable from all sources.
• The MBT instrument's maximum depth of approximately 285 meters limits analysis to the ocean's upper layers only.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1959-04-08 on NASA Earthdata).

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originating from NODC.

Collection Method

Data collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the R/V Courtney cruise and processed to NODC standard C128 format.

Time Range

1959-02-09 to 1959-04-08

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:49:23.859342

Geography

Caribbean Sea, North Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean