North Atlantic Ocean Temperature Profiles from DOLPHIN Cruise

Temperature-depth profiles from the DOLPHIN cruise in the North Atlantic Ocean, collected using a Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument. The dataset contains pairs of temperature-depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center into the standard C128 format. Observations are limited to the upper ocean layers, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying short-term oceanographic conditions during a specific cruise using date, position, and time metadata.
• Investigating surface layer heat content and mixed layer depth from profiles with 5-meter resolution.
• Comparing historical upper-ocean temperature data from mechanical bathythermograph instruments.

Strengths

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

Limitations

• Instrument limitation restricts observations to a maximum depth of ~285 meters, capturing only the upper ocean.
• Conflicting metadata: 'last updated' date differs significantly between Data.gov (2026-03-05) and NASA Earthdata (1970-08-07).
• Core metadata such as row count, column names, file size, and license are unavailable across all platforms.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the DOLPHIN cruise and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1970-08-01 to 1970-08-07

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:40:42.562321

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean