Historical North Atlantic Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from the KIRKPATRICK

Temperature-depth profiles from the mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument aboard the KIRKPATRICK in the North Atlantic Ocean. The dataset contains observations recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, covering a period from March 1953 to December 1959. Data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing seasonal and interannual temperature variability in the North Atlantic upper ocean (0-285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying the vertical thermal structure of the ocean mixed layer from historical cruise data.
• Correlating surface ocean conditions with cruise information, date, position, and time reported for each observation.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring a consistent structure for temperature-depth profile pairs.
• Provides a continuous 7-year time series (1953-1959) of upper ocean observations from a specific vessel.
• Measurements are recorded at a uniform 5-meter depth interval, facilitating direct vertical comparisons.

Limitations

• Maximum observation depth is limited to ~285 meters, restricting analysis to the upper ocean layers only.
• Conflicting metadata exists: one platform lists a last updated date of 2026-03 05, while another shows 1959-12-13, creating ambiguity about data currency.
• Key quantitative details like total row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce (via National Oceanographic Data Center).

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during KIRKPATRICK cruises and processed to NODC standard format.

Time Range

1953-03-01 to 1959-12 -13

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:50:00.842063

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean.