Historical Caribbean Sea Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles

Temperature-depth profiles from the Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument collected during the ESSEX cruise. The dataset covers the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean over an 11-day period in April-May 1964. Data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper 285 meters of the ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying spatial and temporal temperature variations in the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic during the cruise period.
• Correlating cruise metadata (date, position, time) with observed temperature profiles for voyage-specific analysis.
• Using uniformly sampled data (recorded at 5-meter depth intervals) for model validation or comparative studies.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring a consistent structure.
• Provides precise temporal coverage from 1964-04 22 to 1964-05-02 for a specific research cruise.
• Records observations at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating consistent vertical analysis.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Instrument limitation: MBT data is only useful for the upper ocean, with a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Sources conflict on the last update date, with one showing 2026-03-05 and another showing the original collection date of 1964-05-02.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected using the Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the ESSEX cruise and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1964-04-22 to 1964-05-02

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:22:44.034093

Geography

Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean