DOLPHIN Cruise Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1969

Temperature-depth profiles from the DOLPHIN cruise in the North Atlantic Ocean, collected on September 30 and October 1, 1969. The dataset contains mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) observations processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format. It is published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal gradient of the upper 285 meters of the ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying short-term oceanic conditions in a specific region by combining temperature data with cruise, date, position, and time metadata.
• Calibrating or validating ocean mixed-layer models with historical in-situ temperature profiles recorded at 5-meter intervals.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring structural consistency.
• Provides precise temporal and spatial context with specific cruise, date, position, and time for each observation.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating systematic analysis.

Limitations

• Key quantitative details like row count, file size, and column names are unknown across all sources.
• The instrument's maximum depth of ~285 meters limits analysis to the ocean's upper layers only.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1969-10-01 on NASA EarthData).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC.

Time Range

1969-09-30 to 1969-10-01

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:56:30.522914

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean