North Pacific Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from MARYSVILLE Cruise

Temperature-depth profile data collected using a Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) during the MARYSVILLE cruise in the North Pacific Ocean. The dataset contains pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format. Observations were made over a one-week period from January 4 to January 11, 1968.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature gradient in the upper 285 meters of the North Pacific Ocean.
• Studying short-term thermal variability during a specific cruise in January 1968.
• Calibrating or validating models of upper ocean heat content using historical instrument data.
• Investigating the relationship between cruise location, time, and observed temperature at standardized depth intervals.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a specific one-week cruise from 1968-01-04 to 1968-01-11.
• Records data at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating systematic analysis of the water column.

Limitations

• Instrument maximum depth is ~285m, limiting analysis to the upper ocean layer only.
• Key metadata such as row count, file size, license, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• A conflict exists for the 'last updated' date between platforms (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1968-01-11 on NASA Earthdata).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Time Range

1968-01-04 to 1968-01-11

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:40:50.958664

Geography

North Pacific Ocean (specific cruise track of MARYSVILLE vessel)