Historical Bathythermograph Profiles from Pacific Ocean Cruise

North Pacific and South Pacific Ocean temperature-depth profiles collected from the vessel HUGH M. SMITH during a 1951 cruise. The dataset contains mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) observations processed by the NODC into the standard C128 format. It provides paired temperature-depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, useful for studying the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to 285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying historical sea surface temperature conditions and subsurface heat content in the Pacific Ocean.
• Validating or calibrating ocean model hindcasts for the mid-20th century using precise cruise date, position, and time metadata.
• Investigating spatial temperature gradients across the North and South Pacific during the specified cruise period.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency for analysis.
• Provides precise temporal and spatial context with cruise information, date, position, and time for each observation.
• The dataset has a defined vertical resolution, with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• The instrument's maximum depth of ~285 meters limits analysis to the upper ocean only.
• The dataset's age (1951) may present challenges for integration with modern, higher-resolution observations.

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during a research cruise and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1951-08-22 to 1951-10-04

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:42:59.679109

Geography

North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean