NEOSHO Ship Historical Temperature-Depth Profiles

Bathythermograph (MBT) data from the NEOSHO ship in the North Atlantic Ocean contains temperature-depth profiles for the upper ocean layers. The dataset covers observations from April 20, 1958, to August 3, 1959, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format. It is provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying seasonal or temporal changes in near-surface ocean temperature from 1958 to 1959.
• Correlating temperature profiles with specific cruise information, date, position, and time for each observation.
• Serving as a historical reference dataset for calibrating or validating ocean model simulations.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known, documented standard (NODC C128 format).
• Temperature data is recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, enabling consistent analysis.
• Provides specific cruise metadata (date, position, time) for contextualizing each profile.
• Cross-platform presence (Data.gov, NASA Earthdata) indicates recognized importance and curation.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• The maximum observation depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the ocean's upper layers.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' date: Data.gov reports 2026-04-01, while NASA Earthdata reports the data's end date of 1959-08 03.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the NEOSHO ship and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1958-04-20 to 1959-08-03

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:26:02.297525

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean