Millicoma Ship Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1965

Temperature-depth profiles from the Millicoma ship in the North Pacific Ocean, collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument. The dataset contains pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. Data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format and covers a one-month period from February 18 to March 17, 1965.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature gradient in the upper 285 meters of the ocean for a specific cruise.
• Studying short-term thermal variability in the North Pacific during February-March 1965.
• Validating or providing historical context for models of upper ocean heat content.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with the recorded temperature-depth pairs.

Strengths

• Data is formatted to a known standard (NODC C128 format) ensuring structural consistency.
• Temperature readings are recorded at a uniform 5-meter depth interval, facilitating systematic analysis.
• Each observation includes associated metadata: cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• The maximum observation depth of ~285m limits analysis to the upper ocean thermal structure only.
• Key quantitative details like total row count, file size, and column names are unavailable from the provided sources.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' metadata between platforms (2026-03-05 vs. 1965-03-17).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1965-02 18 to 1965-03-17

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:12:19.023361

Geography

North Pacific Ocean