HMS Dalrymple Bathythermograph Data for Upper Ocean Thermal Structure

NOAA NCEI provides mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data collected by HMS Dalrymple across nine marine regions, including the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. Observations span from September 1959 to July 1965, processed into the NODC standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical sea surface temperature and subsurface thermal structure in the upper 285 meters.
• Studying spatial temperature gradients across the Alboran Sea, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and other listed regions.
• Investigating temporal changes in ocean heat content from 1959 to 1965 using paired temperature-depth values.
• Validating regional ocean model outputs for the mid-20th century using cruise-based profile data.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a consistent standard format (NODC C128) ensuring interoperability.
• Provides a multi-year temporal range from 1959 to 1965 for studying decadal-scale changes.
• Covers a wide geographic scope across nine distinct marine regions and basins.
• Temperature data is recorded at a uniform 5-meter depth interval, facilitating systematic analysis.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as exact row count, column names, and dataset size are unknown.
• Instrument limitation restricts observations to the upper ocean layers, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Platforms disagree on the 'last updated' date (2026-03 06 vs. 1965-07-30), creating provenance uncertainty.

Provenance

Source

NOAA NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information).

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements collected by HMS Dalrymple, processed by NODC.

Time Range

1959-09-02 to 1965-07-30

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:13:03.651071

Geography

Alboran Sea, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Gulf of Suez, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, Red Sea.