D.R. Platano: Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles

285 meters is the maximum observation depth for the mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data in this collection. It contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals from a single cruise by the vessel D.R. Platano between December 14 and 15, 1959. The data is processed into the NODC C128 standard format, making it suitable for studying the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers.

Use Cases

• Analyzing upper-ocean thermal structure based on temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying historical ocean temperature variability using data from a specific cruise.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model hindcasts for the late 1950s based on instrument-specific profiles.
• Researching the technical limits of Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instruments using data with a ~285m depth limit.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), aiding interoperability.
• Provides precise temporal (1959-12-14 to 1959-12-15) and instrument (MBT) context.
• Temperature values are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, enabling consistent analysis.

Limitations

• Column names and a precise row count are not provided in any source, limiting immediate usability.
• The dataset's spatial coverage (geography) is unspecified beyond the vessel name.
• Metadata on license and author is missing, creating uncertainty about reuse terms.

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information)

Collection Method

Processed by NODC (National Oceanographic Data Center) from Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument readings.

Time Range

1959-12-14 to 1959-12-15

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:04:26.757267 (metadata last updated on datagov)