USS Guardian Bathythermograph Data for Upper Ocean Thermal Structure

NODC processed bathythermograph (MBT) data from the USS Guardian's cruise in the North Atlantic Ocean. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, covering a 22-day period from October 29 to November 19, 1964. Data is formatted to the NODC standard C128 format, which includes cruise information, date, position, and time for each observation.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to 285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying short-term oceanic variability in the North Atlantic during late 1964 using time-stamped profiles.
• Validating or supplementing historical ocean model reanalyses with precisely located cruise data.
• Examining the methodology and data format of historical Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instruments.

Strengths

• Data is processed and standardized to the documented NODC C128 format.
• Profiles provide consistent measurements at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Covers a specific 22-day cruise with associated temporal and geospatial metadata (date, position, time).

Limitations

• MBT instrument limits observations to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, restricting analysis to the upper ocean.
• Core metadata such as row count, file size, and license information is missing or conflicting across platforms.
• Data is historical, with the last substantive update likely tied to the original 1964 collection date.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce (via NODC/NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected via Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during a USS Guardian cruise and processed to NODC standard format.

Time Range

1964-10-29 to 1964-11-19

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:11:16.667412

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean