Mediterranean Sea Temperature Profiles from 1968

Temperature-depth profile pairs collected by the mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument aboard the LITTLE ROCK vessel in the Mediterranean Sea from March 4 to March 9, 1968. The data, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the C128 standard format, records temperature at uniform 5-meter depth intervals up to approximately 285 meters. This dataset provides a snapshot of the thermal structure of the upper ocean layers during a specific cruise.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the Mediterranean Sea's upper 285 meters using temperature-depth value pairs.
• Studying short-term temperature variability from March 4-9, 1968, using time-stamped observations.
• Investigating spatial oceanographic patterns using cruise position data reported for each profile.
• Benchmarking historical ocean conditions against modern temperature profile datasets.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard (NODC C128 format), ensuring a consistent structure.
• Provides high vertical resolution with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Covers a specific, well-documented 6-day cruise with associated cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and license are unknown across all sources.
• The MBT instrument's maximum depth of ~285m limits analysis to the upper ocean layers only.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date (1968-03-09 vs 2026-03-05), creating uncertainty about data currency.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originating from NODC processing.

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during a research cruise.

Time Range

1968-03-04 to 1968-03-09

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:48:41.275420

Geography

Mediterranean Sea, specific positions from the LITTLE ROCK cruise.