Dolphin Expedition Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles 1965-1968

Mechanical bathythermograph data from the DOLPHIN expedition in the North Atlantic Ocean, spanning from December 1965 to September 1968. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. Data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center into the standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing seasonal and interannual temperature changes in the upper ocean layer using the recorded temperature-depth pairs.
• Mapping the thermal structure of the North Atlantic Ocean using cruise, date, position, and time metadata for each profile.
• Calibrating or validating ocean mixed-layer models with in-situ temperature observations at 5-meter depth intervals.
• Studying historical oceanographic conditions from a specific research vessel (DOLPHIN) during the mid-1960s.

Strengths

• Data is formatted to a known standard (NODC C128 format), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides a nearly three-year continuous time series from 1965-12-01 to 1968-09 10.
• Each observation includes associated metadata such as cruise information, position, date, and time.

Limitations

• Instrument limitation restricts observations to the upper ~285 meters of the ocean.
• Key metrics like total row count, file size, and specific column names are not provided by any source.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-04-01 vs. 1968-09-10).

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the DOLPHIN vessel.

Time Range

1965-12-01 to 1968 09-10

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:29:35.601760

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean