Historical Bay of Bengal Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles

Bathythermograph (MBT) data from the MADRAS cruise in the Bay of Bengal, collected between October 12 and December 14, 1952. The dataset consists of temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format. It provides a snapshot of the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers during this historical period.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) for a specific historical cruise.
• Studying seasonal thermal variations in the Bay of Bengal during the late 1952 period.
• Validating or calibrating regional oceanographic models with historical in-situ temperature profile data.
• Researching the methodology and data format of historical mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) observations.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC C128), ensuring a consistent structure.
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a specific research cruise from 1952-10-12 to 1952-12-14.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at uniform depth intervals (5 meters), facilitating analysis.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, specific column names, and license are unavailable from all sources.
• The mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument limits observations to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, capturing only the upper ocean.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1952-12 14 on NASA Earthdata), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Temperature-depth profiles gathered using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the MADRAS cruise.

Time Range

1952-10-12 to 1952-12-14

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:54:48.425756

Geography

Bay of Bengal, from the MADRAS cruise.