CRANE Expedition Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles

NOAA NCEI provides bathythermograph data collected during the CRANE expedition in the North Pacific Ocean from January to September 1945. The dataset consists of temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed into the NODC standard C128 format. It captures the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical sea surface temperature and subsurface thermal structure in the North Pacific using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying seasonal temperature changes in the upper ocean from January to September 1945 using time-series data.
• Validating or calibrating ocean climate models with mid-20th century in-situ temperature observations.
• Investigating the spatial distribution of ocean heat content during the CRANE expedition using cruise position data.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency.
• Provides a specific temporal snapshot of the North Pacific upper ocean over a 9-month period in 1945.
• Contains detailed metadata for each observation, including cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• Key metrics like row count, file size, and specific column names are unknown across all sources.
• The dataset's utility is limited to the upper ocean, with a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one platform reporting 2026 and another reporting 1945.

Provenance

Source

NOAA NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information).

Collection Method

Collected using mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instruments and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1945-01-08 to 1945-09-21

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:05:08.907583

Geography

North Pacific Ocean during the CRANE expedition.