North Atlantic Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from J. W. GIBBS Cruise

North Atlantic Ocean temperature-depth profiles collected by the research vessel J. W. GIBBS between June 20 and November 1, 1966. The data consists of pairs of temperature-depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. It has been processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format for mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean layers using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying seasonal changes in sea surface temperature and mixed layer depth during the 1966 cruise period.
• Calibrating or validating historical ocean model simulations with in-situ temperature profile data.
• Investigating spatial temperature gradients in the North Atlantic using cruise track position data.

Strengths

• Data is formatted to a recognized standard (NODC C128 format), ensuring interoperability.
• Provides a focused temporal snapshot from a single research cruise over a 4.5-month period.
• Records data at a consistent 5-meter depth interval, allowing for uniform profile analysis.

Limitations

• The mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument limits observations to the upper ~285 meters of the ocean.
• Key metadata such as row count, specific column names, and file size are unavailable from the sources.
• Platforms disagree on the last updated date (2026-04-01 vs. 1966-11-01), creating uncertainty about provenance maintenance.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

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

Time Range

1966-06-20 to 1966-11-01

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:03:40.029349

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean