Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from J. W. GIBBS Cruise

October 1965 to January 1966 temperature-depth profiles from the R/V J. W. GIBBS in the North Atlantic Ocean. The dataset contains mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) observations processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format. It is hosted by NOAA NCEI and also appears on NASA EarthData, indicating its cross-platform relevance for climate and ocean studies.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying seasonal ocean temperature changes in the North Atlantic during the 1965 - 1966 winter period.
• Validating or supplementing historical ocean model reanalyses with in-situ profile data.
• Correlating cruise-specific metadata (date, position, time) with regional oceanographic conditions.

Strengths

• Data is formatted to a consistent NODC standard (C128), ensuring structural uniformity.
• Temporal coverage is precisely defined from 1965-10-12 to 1966-01-24.
• Temperature data is recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating systematic analysis.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Instrument limitation: MBT maximum depth is approximately 285 meters, restricting analysis to the upper ocean only.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), from the R/V J. W. GIBBS cruise.

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC.

Time Range

1965-10 12 to 1966-01-24

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:03:47.641818

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean