Ocean Temperature Profiles from USS Florikan in the North Pacific, 1966

August 20 to September 10, 1966, this dataset contains mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) temperature-depth profiles from the USS FLORIKAN in the Bering Sea, North Pacific Ocean, and Sea of Okhotsk. The data, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the C128 standard format, consists of temperature readings at uniform 5-meter depth intervals down to approximately 285 meters. It was collected and published by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean (0-285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying spatial temperature variations across the Bering Sea, North Pacific Ocean, and Sea of Okhotsk.
• Investigating short-term oceanographic conditions during a specific late-summer cruise in 1966 using cruise, date, position, and time metadata.
• Serving as a historical baseline for comparison with modern ocean temperature data in the same regions.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized NODC format (C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a focused 22-day research cruise in 1966.
• Temperature data is recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating systematic analysis.

Limitations

• Key structural metadata is missing: row count, column names, and file size are unknown.
• The MBT instrument's maximum depth of ~285m limits analysis to the ocean's upper layers only.
• Cross-platform metadata conflict: the last updated date is reported as 2026-04-01 on Data.gov but 1966-09-10 on NASA Earthdata.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), via the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Collection Method

Collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the USS FLORIKAN and processed into the NODC C128 standard format.

Time Range

1966-08-20 to 1966-09-10

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:25:46.314811

Geography

Bering Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Sea of Okhotsk