Furman Ship Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1966

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data from the ship Furman, capturing temperature-depth profiles in the North Pacific Ocean. The dataset consists of pairs of temperature-depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. Data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format and is provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (0-285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying short-term oceanographic conditions during a specific cruise using linked date, position, and time metadata.
• Investigating historical temperature profiles at uniform 5-meter depth intervals for model validation.

Strengths

• Data adheres to a standardized NODC format (C128) ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides precise metadata for each observation including cruise, date, position, and time.
• Temperature values are recorded at a consistent, high-resolution 5-meter depth interval.

Limitations

• Key quantitative details are unknown: row count, file size, and specific column names.
• Instrument limitation restricts observations to a maximum depth of ~285 meters, capturing only the upper ocean.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates between platforms (2026-03 06 vs. 1966-02-08) create uncertainty about metadata freshness.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the ship Furman and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1966-01-20 to 1966-02-08

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:19:52.684044

Geography

North Pacific Ocean