French WWII-Era Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from the Pacific

285 meters is the maximum observation depth for these mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) records. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals from French operations in the North Pacific, Philippine Sea, and South Pacific. Data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying spatial variability of sea temperature across the North Pacific, Philippine Sea, and South Pacific.
• Investigating seasonal or intra-annual changes in near-surface ocean conditions from December 1944 to August 1945.
• Using cruise information, date, position, and time metadata to contextualize historical oceanographic observations.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring a consistent structure for analysis.
• Temperature values are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating direct comparisons.
• Provides a specific 7.5-month time range (1944-12 27 to 1945-08-09) from a historically significant period.
• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA Earthdata indicates recognized archival importance.

Limitations

• Key technical details are missing, including the exact row count, column names, and file size.
• The maximum depth of ~285 meters limits utility to studies of the upper ocean only.
• A conflict exists in the 'last updated' metadata between platforms (2026-03-05 vs. 1945-08-09).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce (via NODC).

Collection Method

Collected using mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instruments and processed to the NODC C128 standard format.

Time Range

1944-12-27 to 1945-08-09

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:38:39.539484

Geography

North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, South Pacific Ocean