USS McCaffery Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles 1949-1960
Updated 3mo ago
15files
Available on 2 platforms
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Description
Bathythermograph (MBT) data from USS MCCAFFERY provides temperature-depth profiles from the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic, and North Pacific Oceans. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration processed this data into the NODC standard C128 format, covering observations from May 16, 1949, to May 15, 1960. Each record includes cruise information, date, position, time, and temperature readings at uniform 5-meter depth intervals down to approximately 285 meters.
Use Cases
Analyzing historical sea surface temperature trends in the North Atlantic using the reported temperature-depth pairs.
Mapping the cruise paths of USS MCCAFFERY across multiple seas using the position and date columns.
Studying the seasonal thermal structure of the upper 285 meters in the Caribbean Sea with the uniform 5m interval data.
Comparing mid-century ocean temperature profiles from the Mediterranean Sea and North Pacific Ocean.
Validating or supplementing climate models with in-situ temperature observations from 1949-1960.
Strengths
Data spans over a decade of observations from 1949-05 16 to 1960-05-15.
Coverage includes five distinct oceanographic regions: Caribbean Sea, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, and North Pacific Ocean.
Temperature data is recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, providing a standardized profile structure.
Processed to a known standard (NODC C128 format) by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Limitations
Maximum observation depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the ocean's upper layers only.
Key metadata such as row count, file size, specific column names, and license are unavailable across all sources.
A conflict exists in 'last updated' metadata: Data.gov lists 2026-03-05, while NASA Earthdata lists 1960-05-15.
Provenance
Source
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce
Collection Method
Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC to the C128 format.
Time Range
1949-05-16 to 1960-05-15
Freshness
2026-03-05 22:51:37.730517
Geography
Caribbean Sea, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, North Pacific Ocean
The dataset's presence on multiple platforms (Data.gov, NASA Earthdata) indicates importance but also highlights metadata inconsistencies. License information is not provided.