FORSTER: Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from Mechanical Bathythermograph

NODC-processed mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data captures the thermal structure of the upper ocean to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. Temperature-depth pairs are recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals during a specific cruise by the FORSTER vessel in the Anadyrskiy Gulf. This dataset is formatted to the NODC C128 standard, which includes cruise information, date, position, and time for each observation.

Use Cases

• Analyzing upper ocean thermal structure based on temperature-depth profile pairs.
• Studying historical heat content changes in the Anadyrskiy Gulf region from the reported cruise dates and positions.
• Calibrating or validating ocean models with in-situ temperature observations from a mechanical bathythermograph.
• Investigating short-term oceanic variability during the 1970 winter period covered by the cruise.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a recognized standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency.
• Provides precise temporal and spatial context with cruise information, dates, positions, and times for each profile.
• Observations are recorded at a uniform 5-meter depth interval, facilitating direct comparison between profiles.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as exact row count, column names, and license are missing from all platform entries.
• The instrument's maximum depth of ~285 meters limits analysis to the upper ocean layers only.
• The dataset's freshness is unclear; the last metadata update is listed as 2026, but the data itself is from 1970.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during a research cruise and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1970-01-20 to 1970-02-07

Freshness

Last metadata update recorded on 2026-03-05, but the underlying data collection ended on 1970-02-07.

Geography

North Pacific Ocean, specifically the Anadyrskiy Gulf