South China Sea Bathythermograph Data from 1966 Cruise

FORSTER bathythermograph (MBT) data captures temperature-depth profiles in the South China Sea from March 7-9, 1966. The dataset, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into standard C128 format, contains pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum of approximately 285 meters. This data is managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying short-term oceanographic conditions during the specific cruise dates via date, position, and time columns.
• Investigating historical baseline temperature profiles in the South China Sea region.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented NODC standard format (C128), ensuring a known structure.
• Temperature observations are recorded at a consistent 5-meter depth interval, facilitating uniform analysis.
• Cruise metadata including date, position, and time is reported for each observation.

Limitations

• The dataset's row count, total size, and specific column names are not provided by any source.
• The mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument limits observations to a maximum depth of ~285m, restricting analysis to the upper ocean.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' metadata, with one showing 2026-04-01 and another showing the original collection date of 1966-03-09.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC to the C128 format.

Time Range

1966-03-07 to 1966-03-09

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:19:49.538986

Geography

South China Sea