North Atlantic Ocean Temperature Profiles from USNS James M. Gilliss

Temperature-depth profile data collected using a Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) from the USNS James M. Gilliss in the North Atlantic Ocean. The dataset contains processed observations from a single cruise spanning four days in August 1966. Data is formatted to the NODC standard C128 format, providing pairs of temperature and depth values at uniform 5-meter intervals.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature gradient in the upper 285 meters of the ocean.
• Studying short-term thermal variability in a specific North Atlantic region during August 1966.
• Calibrating or validating ocean mixed-layer models with historical in-situ data.
• Investigating cruise-based observational methods and data formats from the 1960s.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency.
• Temperature values are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating analysis.
• Each observation includes associated metadata: cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• The MBT instrument's maximum depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Key metadata such as row count, column names, file size, and license are unavailable across all sources.
• There is a conflict in 'last updated' dates: one source reports 2026-03-05, while another reports the original collection date of 1966-08-13.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected via Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC to the C128 standard format.

Time Range

1966-08-10 to 1966-08-13

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:30:44.364790

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean.