Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from the LEOPARD Expedition
Updated 3mo ago
14files
Available on 2 platforms
Sign in to view source links and access this dataset
Description
Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data from the vessel LEOPARD provides temperature-depth profiles for the upper ocean layers. The dataset covers a multi-ocean voyage from 1959 to 1962, processed by the NODC into its standard C128 format. Each observation includes cruise metadata, position, time, and paired temperature readings at 5-meter depth intervals.
Use Cases
Analyzing thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to 285m) across multiple basins.
Studying historical sea surface temperature and subsurface temperature gradients.
Mapping cruise tracks and correlating temperature profiles with location and time.
Validating or supplementing climate reanalysis models with in-situ historical data.
Strengths
Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency.
Covers a wide geographical range including the Gulf of Guinea, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Provides a multi-year time series from June 1959 to February 1962.
Limitations
Instrument limitation: MBT maximum depth is ~285m, restricting analysis to the upper ocean only.
Critical metadata conflicts: row count, column names, and exact data size are unknown across all platforms.
Data freshness is unclear; the last metadata update is far in the future (2026), suggesting a system error.
Provenance
Source
NOAA NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information).
Collection Method
Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the LEOPARD cruise and processed by NODC.
Time Range
1959-06-04 to 1962-02-19
Freshness
2026-03-05 23:55:25.995178
Geography
Gulf of Guinea, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, South Pacific Ocean.
License information is not provided on any platform. The future-dated 'last updated' metadata is likely an error.