Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from the FINISTERRE Cruise

Temperature-depth profiles from the FINISTERRE cruise in the North and South Pacific Ocean, collected over a one-week period in November 1959. The data is processed into the NODC C128 standard format, containing pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum of approximately 285 meters. This dataset provides a snapshot of the upper ocean's thermal structure from a specific mid-20th century research voyage.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature gradient in the upper ocean for a specific time and location.
• Studying short-term thermal variability in the Pacific Ocean over a one-week cruise track.
• Using cruise information, date, position, and time metadata to contextualize historical oceanographic observations.
• Comparing historical mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data with modern sensor measurements to assess instrument evolution.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring structural consistency.
• Provides precise temporal (1959-11-21 to 1959-11 27) and geographic (North and South Pacific Ocean) context for each profile.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at a uniform 5-meter depth interval, facilitating direct comparison.

Limitations

• The maximum observation depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the upper ocean layers.
• Key quantitative details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from the provided sources.
• The dataset's age (1959) may involve older instrumentation and processing methods with unstated accuracy margins.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originating from the FINISTERRE cruise.

Collection Method

Collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Time Range

1959-11-21 to 1959-11-27

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:22:16.604874

Geography

North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean along the FINISTERRE cruise track.