USS F. KNOX Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles 1949-1960

Temperature-depth profiles from the USS F. KNOX, collected using Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instruments across the East China Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, and South China Sea. The dataset covers an 11-year period from 1949 to 1960 and has been processed into the NODC standard C128 format. It provides uniform 5-meter interval measurements down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing seasonal and interannual temperature changes in the upper ocean thermocline using paired temperature-depth values.
• Mapping historical sea surface temperature patterns and subsurface thermal gradients across the specified ocean basins.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model simulations for the mid-20th century using in-situ profile data.
• Studying the spatial distribution of ocean heat content in the upper 285 meters during the 1949-1960 period.

Strengths

• Provides a consistent 11-year time series (1949-1960) for analyzing decadal-scale ocean temperature trends.
• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring uniform 5-meter depth intervals for comparability.
• Covers multiple significant ocean basins (East China Sea, North Pacific, Philippine Sea, South China Sea).
• Represents historically important in-situ measurements from a specific naval vessel, USS F. KNOX.

Limitations

• Instrument limitation: MBT maximum depth is ~285m, restricting analysis to the upper ocean layers only.
• Critical metadata conflicts: row count, column names, file size, and license information are unknown across all sources.
• Data freshness is unclear; one source lists a 2026 update while another uses the 1960 collection end date.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC to C128 standard format.

Time Range

1949 04 18 to 1960 11 24

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:04:03.350305

Geography

East China Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, South China Sea