Historical Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from the KING Cruise

October 1963 to January 1964 temperature-depth profiles from the KING cruise in the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and South China Sea. Data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format for Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) observations. This dataset captures the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing seasonal thermal structure changes in the upper ocean (using temperature-depth pairs).
• Studying spatial temperature gradients across the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and South China Sea (using position data).
• Investigating diurnal or cruise-length temperature variability (using date and time stamps).
• Calibrating or validating regional ocean models with historical in-situ profile data.
• Supporting studies on mixed-layer depth dynamics from mechanically recorded profiles.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to a known NODC format (C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a specific research cruise over a 3.5-month period.
• Records observations at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating systematic analysis.
• Cross-platform presence (Data.gov, NASA Earthdata) indicates recognized importance and curation.

Limitations

• Key metadata conflicts exist: row count, column names, and exact license are unknown across all sources.
• Instrument limitation: MBT data is only useful for the upper ocean, with a maximum depth of ~285m.
• The dataset is historical; methodology and precision may not match modern instruments.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC.

Time Range

1963-10-15 to 1964-01-30

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:22:03.227349

Geography

East China Sea, Philippine Sea, South China Sea