North Pacific Ocean Temperature Profiles from Golden Fleece Ship, 1989

NE Pacific Ocean temperature profiles were collected from the ship Golden Fleece over a 17-day period in 1989. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in Seattle recorded real-time water temperature at varying depths using expendable bathythermographs (XBTs), with data captured on ten stripcharts. These analog records were later digitized and submitted to the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) by Virginia Molenaar.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical temperature structure (thermocline depth) from XBT profiles.
• Calibrating or validating regional ocean models with in-situ temperature data.
• Investigating short-term oceanic variability during a specific late-summer period in 1989.
• Studying historical data collection and digitization methods for analog stripchart records.

Strengths

• Data provides specific temporal coverage from September 16 to October 2, 1989.
• Records originate from a defined research vessel (Golden Fleece) and geographic area (NE Pacific, limit-180).
• Analog stripchart data has been digitized into a standard NODC format (C116).

Limitations

• Column names, row count, and file size are unknown from all sources.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date (1989-10-02 vs. 2026-03 05).
• The specific spatial coordinates for each measurement are not detailed.

Provenance

Source

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Seattle; submitted by Virginia Molenaar to NODC.

Collection Method

Real-time expendable bathythermograph (XBT) data recorded on stripcharts, later digitized.

Time Range

1989-09-16 to 1989-10-02

Freshness

2026 -03-05 22:38:33.914160

Geography

NE Pacific Ocean (limit-180)