Historical North Pacific Ocean Temperature Profiles from Mechanical Bathythermographs

1949-09-05 to 1951-06-11 temperature-depth profiles from the North Pacific Ocean, collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instruments on research vessels BLACK DOUGLAS, CREST, E. W. SCRIPPS, and HORIZON. The dataset, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format, contains observations of the ocean's upper thermal structure down to approximately 285 meters. Data points are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical temperature-depth profiles at 5-meter intervals to study upper ocean thermal structure.
• Investigating seasonal or interannual temperature variability in the North Pacific from 1949 to 1951.
• Validating or calibrating ocean model simulations of the mid-20th century North Pacific.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with temperature observations for specific research voyages.

Strengths

• Provides a standardized, processed dataset in the NODC C128 format, ensuring consistent structure.
• Covers a specific two-year time range (1949-1951) with precise temporal and spatial (North Pacific Ocean) coverage.
• Contains detailed per-observation metadata including cruise, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• The maximum observation depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the ocean's upper layers only.
• Exact row count, file size, and complete column list are unknown from available sources.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date: one lists a metadata update in 2026, while another lists the data end date of 1951.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce (via NODC/NCEI).

Collection Method

Temperature-depth profiles gathered using mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instruments from research vessels.

Time Range

1949-09-05 to 1951-06-11

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:01:45.400884

Geography

North Pacific Ocean