NOAA Ship Albatross IV Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles, 1970

March 25 to April 30, 1970, temperature-depth profiles from the Bay of Fundy and North Atlantic Ocean, collected via Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) on NOAA Ship Albatross IV. The dataset contains pairs of temperature-depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format. It captures the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying seasonal warming or frontal features in the Bay of Fundy and North Atlantic during spring 1970.
• Validating or providing historical context for regional oceanographic models with cruise, date, position, and time metadata.
• Investigating mixed-layer depth variability from profiles with 5-meter resolution.

Strengths

• Provides a focused temporal snapshot from a specific 37-day cruise in 1970.
• Data is processed to a known, documented standard (NODC C128 format) ensuring structural consistency.
• Includes essential geospatial and temporal metadata (cruise info, date, position, time) for each observation.

Limitations

• Key technical details are unknown, including row count, specific column names, and file size.
• Instrument limitation restricts data to the upper ocean only, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1970-04-30 on NASA Earthdata).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC.

Time Range

1970-03-25 to 1970-04-30

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:55:00.529962

Geography

Bay of Fundy and North Atlantic Ocean