Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from the R/V Courtney

Bathythermograph (XBT) data from the research vessel COURTNEY captures temperature-depth profiles across five seas from January 29 to February 17, 1971. The dataset was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C116 format, which records temperature at non-uniform inflection points to define the profile curve. This data provides a snapshot of ocean thermal structure from a specific mid-20th century cruise.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical ocean temperature structure in the North Atlantic and adjacent seas for a specific winter period.
• Studying the spatial distribution of thermal properties across the Alboran, Greenland, Mediterranean, and Norwegian Seas.
• Using the recorded cruise information, position, date, and time to reconstruct the vessel's track and sampling context.
• Comparing inflection-point based XBT profile recording methods against uniform-interval datasets like MBT files.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented NODC standard format (C116), ensuring a known structure.
• Covers a specific 20-day cruise across five distinct marine regions (Alboran Sea, Greenland Sea, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, Norwegian Sea).
• The XBT method can profile depths up to 1830 meters, capturing data beyond the surface mixed layer.

Limitations

• The exact number of profiles (rows) and the full column schema are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last update date, with one platform listing 2026-04-01 and another the original collection end date of 1971-02 17.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Collected using expendable bathythermograph (XBT) instruments deployed from the R/V COURTNEY.

Time Range

1971-01-29 to 1971-02-17

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:15:38.627832

Geography

Alboran Sea, Greenland Sea, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, Norwegian Sea