HIDALGO Bathythermograph Temperature-Depth Profiles in the Gulf of Mexico

Temperature-depth profiles from the Gulf of Mexico were collected by the vessel HIDALGO using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument. The dataset contains observations from June 27-29, 1962, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center into the standard C128 format. It is published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is also listed on NASA Earthdata.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper 285 meters of the ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying short-term oceanographic conditions in the Gulf of Mexico for a specific cruise in June 1962.
• Validating or supplementing historical ocean temperature models with uniformly sampled data at 5-meter intervals.
• Researching vessel-based oceanographic data collection methods and standard formats like NODC C128.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128) ensuring structured temperature-depth pairs.
• Provides precise temporal (1962-06 27 to 29) and spatial (Gulf of Mexico) context for each observation.
• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA Earthdata indicates recognized importance and accessibility.

Limitations

• Key technical details are missing, including row count, file size, specific column names, and license information.
• The MBT instrument's maximum depth of ~285 meters limits analysis to the ocean's upper layers only.
• The last updated date conflict (2026-03-06 vs. 1962-06-29) suggests potential metadata errors.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the vessel HIDALGO and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1962-06-27 to 1962-06-29

Freshness

2026-03 06 00:23:47.561378

Geography

Gulf of Mexico