Millicoma Ship Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles

NOAA NCEI provides bathythermograph data from the MILLICOMA ship across the Bay of Biscay, Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic, and North Pacific Oceans. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed to the NODC standard C128 format. Observations were collected during a cruise from October 20, 1963, to March 22, 1964.

Use Cases

• Analyzing upper ocean thermal stratification using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying spatial temperature variations across the Bay of Biscay, Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic, and North Pacific.
• Investigating seasonal ocean changes during the 1963-1964 cruise period using date and time stamps.
• Correlating cruise information and position data with regional oceanographic models.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized NODC format (C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Profiles offer high vertical resolution with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Covers a specific multi-ocean cruise over a defined 5-month period from 1963-10 20 to 1964-03-22.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, file size, and license are unavailable from all sources.
• The mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument limits observations to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.
• A conflict exists on the 'last updated' date between platforms (2026-03-05 on datagov vs. 1964-03-22 on nasa_earthdata).

Provenance

Source

NOAA NCEI (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Centers for Environmental Information).

Collection Method

Temperature-depth profiles obtained using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument, processed by NODC.

Time Range

1963-10-20 to 1964-03-22

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:51:10.214643

Geography

Bay of Biscay, Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, North Pacific Ocean.