North Atlantic Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1962 Mechanical Bathythermograph

North Atlantic Ocean data contains temperature-depth profiles collected using a Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) during the MARMER cruise from January to May 1962. The dataset, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the C128 standard format, captures the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. Each observation includes cruise information, date, position, and time, with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying seasonal temperature changes in the North Atlantic from winter to spring 1962 using the date and position columns.
• Validating or calibrating ocean model simulations for the North Atlantic region using historical in-situ profile data.
• Researching oceanographic data standardization practices using the documented NODC C128 format.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC C128) ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides a focused temporal snapshot of four months in 1962 for studying seasonal transition.
• Includes core metadata (cruise, date, position, time) for each profile, enabling spatiotemporal analysis.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at a consistent, high-resolution 5-meter depth interval.

Limitations

• The Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument limits observations to a maximum depth of ~285m, excluding deeper ocean layers.
• Exact row count, file size, and complete column names are not provided by the sources.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' metadata, reporting dates in 2026 and 1962.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the MARMER cruise and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1962-01 25 to 1962-05-27

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:26:55.034126

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean