Historical North Atlantic Ocean Temperature Profiles from NORWALK Cruise

NORWALK cruise bathythermograph (MBT) data captures temperature-depth profiles in the North Atlantic Ocean from July 5 to August 8, 1965. The dataset, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format, contains pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals. It documents the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature structure of the upper ocean (285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying seasonal thermal changes in the North Atlantic during summer 1965 using date and position data.
• Investigating cruise-specific oceanographic conditions by linking temperature profiles to cruise information and time.
• Calibrating or validating historical ocean model simulations with precisely measured in-situ temperature profiles.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known, documented standard (NODC C128 format) ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides a focused temporal snapshot over a 35-day period in a specific geographic region (North Atlantic).
• Temperature measurements are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating standardized analysis.

Limitations

• Key structural metadata is missing, including the exact row count, column names, and total dataset size.
• The maximum observation depth of ~285m limits analysis to the ocean's upper layers only.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-03-05 on datagov vs. 1965-08-08 on nasa_earthdata).

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originally from the NORWALK cruise.

Collection Method

Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC.

Time Range

1965-07-05 to 1965-08-08

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:42:54.590802

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean, specific cruise track of NORWALK.