USS Guardian Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1964

North Atlantic Ocean temperature-depth profiles collected by the USS Guardian using a Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) from October 1 to 16, 1964. The dataset, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into standard C128 format, contains pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals. These observations are limited to the upper ocean layers, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean using paired temperature-depth columns.
• Studying short-term oceanic variability in a specific region during October 1964 using date, time, and position data.
• Calibrating or validating historical ocean model simulations for the North Atlantic.
• Investigating the performance and data characteristics of the Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency.
• Provides a focused temporal snapshot with a precise 16-day observation period in October 1964.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating analysis.

Limitations

• Key technical details are unspecified: total row count, file size, and complete column names are unknown.
• Instrument limitation restricts data to the upper ocean (max ~285m depth), excluding deeper thermal structure.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata exists between platforms (2026 vs. 1964), creating provenance uncertainty.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the USS Guardian and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1964-10-01 to 1964-10-16

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:20:52.010907

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean