Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from the Maria Paolina G. Expedition

Temperature-depth profiles from the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean collected by the vessel MARIA PAOLINA G. using mechanical bathythermographs. The dataset contains observations spanning 13 years, from September 1954 to September 1967, processed into the NODC standard C128 format. Data was processed and archived by the National Oceanographic Data Center under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) over a 13-year period.
• Studying seasonal or interannual temperature variability at specific locations using reported date, position, and time.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model simulations for the mid-20th century using paired temperature-depth values.
• Investigating cruise-specific oceanographic conditions from the reported cruise information for each observation.

Strengths

• Data spans a 13-year time range (1954-09 10 to 1967-09-27), providing a multi-decadal historical record.
• Observations are processed to a standardized format (NODC C128), ensuring consistent structure with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Includes precise metadata for each profile: cruise information, date, geographic position, and time.

Limitations

• Instrument limitation: Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data is restricted to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, capturing only the upper ocean thermal structure.
• Conflicting metadata: Platforms disagree on the 'last updated' date (datagov reports 2026-03-05, nasa_earthdata reports 1967-09-27).
• Core dataset attributes like row count, file size, and specific column names are unknown across all sources.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed to NODC standard C128 format.

Time Range

1954-09-10 to 1967-09-27

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:40:12.609887

Geography

Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean