NOAA Ship Fairweather XBT Temperature-Depth Profiles in the Gulf of Alaska

Temperature-depth profiles were collected using expendable bathythermograph (XBT) instruments from NOAA Ship Fairweather. The dataset covers a specific cruise in the Gulf of Alaska and North Pacific Ocean during the summer of 1986. Data were processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center to its standard C116 format for historical ocean profile records.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical ocean temperature structure using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying seasonal or regional ocean heat content changes in the Gulf of Alaska.
• Calibrating or validating ocean circulation models with in-situ profile data.
• Investigating the placement of temperature inflection points within the water column.

Strengths

• Data processed to a recognized standard format (NODC C116) for consistency.
• Provides specific cruise, position, date, and time metadata for each observation.
• Profiles capture temperature at key inflection points rather than uniform intervals, optimizing data definition.

Limitations

• Exact row count, column names, and dataset size are unknown.
• Data is from a single, short cruise in 1986, limiting temporal and spatial scope.
• Platforms show a conflict for 'last updated' date (2026-04-01 vs. 1986-09-08).

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected via expendable bathythermograph (XBT) instruments from NOAA Ship Fairweather and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1986-07 16 to 1986-09-08

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:22:50.479878

Geography

Gulf of Alaska and North Pacific Ocean.