Historical MBT Ocean Temperature Profiles from USS John R. Manning

Bathythermograph data records temperature-depth profiles from the USS John R. Manning's 1945 cruise. The dataset covers the Bismarck Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, and South Pacific Ocean over a two-month period. Data is processed into the NODC standard C128 format, containing pairs of temperature and depth values.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to 285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying spatial variability of sea surface temperature across the Pacific Ocean using cruise position data.
• Investigating historical ocean conditions in specific regions (Bismarck Sea, Philippine Sea) using time-stamped observations.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model hindcasts for the 1945 period using standardized profile data.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency.
• Temporal coverage is precisely defined for a historical period (March 10 to May 10, 1945).
• Spatial coverage is specific, listing multiple ocean basins and seas.

Limitations

• Key quantitative details are missing across all sources: row count, file size, and specific column names are unknown.
• The instrument's maximum depth of ~285m limits analysis to the upper ocean layers only.
• Sources conflict on the last update date: one platform reports 2026-03-05 (metadata update), while another lists 1945-05-10 (data collection end).

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI

Collection Method

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

Time Range

1945-03-10 to 1945-05-10

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:37:17.048321

Geography

Bismarck Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, South Pacific Ocean