Historical Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from Gulf of Thailand

Temperature-depth profile data was collected using mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instruments from the DAMPIER vessel in the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea. The dataset contains observations processed to the NODC standard C128 format, with a temporal range from December 1950 to May 1960. It was processed and published by NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC/NOAA_NCEI).

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper 285 meters of the ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying decadal changes in sea surface and subsurface temperatures in the Gulf of Thailand from 1950-1960.
• Validating regional ocean models with historical in-situ temperature profiles recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with observed temperature-depth pairs for specific research voyages.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a recognized standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides a specific 10-year temporal coverage from 1950-12-13 to 1960-05-13 for longitudinal study.
• Observations include precise metadata such as cruise information, date, position, and time for each profile.
• Temperature data is recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating straightforward analysis.

Limitations

• Key technical specifications are missing, including the total number of rows, columns, and dataset size.
• The maximum observation depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the upper ocean layers only.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-03-06 on Data.gov vs. 1960-05-13 on NASA Earthdata).

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instruments from the DAMPIER vessel and processed to NODC standard C128 format.

Time Range

1950-12-13 to 1960-05-13

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:14:27.253192

Geography

Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea.