Historical Pacific Ocean Temperature Profiles from Bathythermograph

285 meters is the maximum depth for temperature observations in this dataset. It contains bathythermograph (MBT) data from the vessel JOHN R. MANNING, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format. The data captures temperature-depth profiles at 5-meter intervals in the North and South Pacific Ocean during a late 1953 cruise.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean (0-285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying historical ocean conditions in the Pacific during November-December 1953 using date, position, and time metadata.
• Investigating cruise-specific data collection methods for the mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known, documented standard (NODC C128 format).
• Observations have a consistent sampling interval, with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Provides specific cruise, date, position, and time for each profile, offering contextual metadata.

Limitations

• Key technical details are missing, including row count, column names, file size, and specific license.
• Data is limited to the upper 285 meters of the ocean, restricting analysis to surface and near-surface layers.
• The last updated metadata conflicts between platforms (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1953-12-19 on NASA EarthData).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1953-11-22 to 1953-12-19

Freshness

2026-03 05 23:53:23.581194

Geography

North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean