North Atlantic Ocean Temperature Profiles from NOAA Ship Delaware II

February 26 to March 11, 1979, this dataset contains bathythermograph (XBT) temperature-depth profiles collected by NOAA Ship Delaware II in the North Atlantic Ocean. Data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C116 format, which records temperature at non-uniform inflection points to define the thermal curve. The dataset represents a specific research cruise and is part of the historic NODC Ocean Profile Data Base.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical temperature structure in the North Atlantic Ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying short-term oceanographic conditions during a specific research cruise in February-March 1979.
• Calibrating or validating ocean models with historical in-situ temperature profile data.
• Researching data processing methods for historic expendable bathythermograph (XBT) instruments.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented NODC standard format (C116) for consistency.
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a focused two-week research cruise in 1979.
• Includes detailed metadata such as cruise information, position, date, and time for each observation.
• Represents a cross-platform dataset, indicating its established use in scientific communities.

Limitations

• Key structural details like row count, column names, and file size are unknown across all sources.
• The dataset's temporal coverage is very narrow, limiting analysis to a specific two-week period.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one showing 2026 and another showing 1979.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected using expendable bathythermograph (XBT) instruments from NOAA Ship Delaware II and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1979-02-26 to 1979-03-11

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:31:41.062740

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean