Ocean Temperature Profiles from R/V Gerda 1955-1965

1955-07-01 to 1965-05-30 provides a decade of mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data from the R/V GERDA in the Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic Ocean. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format. It is managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical sea surface temperature trends using the recorded temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying the thermal stratification of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) across the specified geographic regions.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with observed temperature profiles for spatiotemporal analysis.
• Calibrating or validating modern oceanographic models with historical in-situ temperature data.

Strengths

• Provides a consistent decade-long time series from 1955 to 1965.
• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring a uniform structure for analysis.
• Each observation includes associated metadata: cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• The maximum observation depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Key quantitative details like total row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from the provided sources.
• The listed last update dates conflict between platforms (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1965-05-30 on NASA Earthdata), creating uncertainty about recent modifications.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Data collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from R/V GERDA and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1955-07-01 to 1965-05 30

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:39:58.921626

Geography

Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic Ocean