Historical Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from USS F. ROYAL 1954

1954-08-17 to 1954-12-01 temperature-depth profiles collected by the USS F. ROYAL in the North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, Seto Naikai, and South China Sea. Data is processed by NODC into the standard C128 format for Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) observations, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. This dataset captures the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers during a specific mid-20th century cruise.

Use Cases

• Analyzing seasonal thermal stratification in the upper ocean (using temperature-depth pairs at 5m intervals).
• Studying historical sea surface temperature and mixed layer depth variability (using cruise date, position, and time metadata).
• Validating or initializing regional ocean models for the North Pacific and adjacent seas (using georeferenced profile data).
• Investigating instrument-specific data characteristics from mechanical bathythermographs (MBT).

Strengths

• Provides a temporally focused snapshot from a 3.5-month cruise in 1954.
• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring structural consistency.
• Spatial coverage includes multiple major basins: North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, Seto Naikai, and South China Sea.

Limitations

• Instrument limitation: MBT maximum depth is ~285m, restricting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Critical metadata conflicts: row count, total size, license, and specific column names are unknown across all sources.
• Data freshness is ambiguous; one source lists a 2026 update while another lists the 1954 collection date.

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Centers for Environmental Information).

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) measurements processed by NODC to the C128 format.

Time Range

1954-08-17 to 1954-12-01

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:38:40.112222

Geography

North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, Seto Naikai, South China Sea