Historical Bathythermograph Temperature Profiles from GUEST Cruise

Temperature-depth profiles collected using Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instruments during the GUEST cruise in early 1945. The dataset covers the East China Sea, North Pacific Ocean, and Philippine Sea, processed by NODC into the standard C128 format. Observations are limited to the upper ocean layers, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) in the western Pacific during 1945.
• Studying temperature variation with depth at uniform 5-meter intervals.
• Correlating ocean temperature conditions with specific cruise dates, times, and geographic positions.
• Providing a historical baseline for comparison with modern ocean temperature data in the same regions.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency.
• Provides precise temporal coverage from 1945-01-31 to 1945-07-08.
• Includes key metadata for each observation: cruise information, date, position, and time.
• Temperature values are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating analysis.

Limitations

• Row count, total size, and specific column names are not provided by any source.
• Instrument limitation: MBT data is only useful for studying the upper ocean layers (~285m max depth).
• Sources conflict on the last updated date: one lists 2026-04-01 (metadata update), another lists 1945-07 08 (data collection end).

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Centers for Environmental Information).

Collection Method

Collected via Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instruments during the GUEST cruise and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1945-01-31 to 1945-07-08

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:18:59.198294

Geography

East China Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea