Historical Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from the O'BRIEN

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data from the vessel O'BRIEN in the North Pacific Ocean, capturing temperature-depth profiles from May 15 to 19, 1962. The dataset is processed into the NODC C128 standard format, providing pairs of temperature and depth values at uniform 5-meter intervals. It is managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying short-term oceanographic conditions during a specific cruise via recorded date, position, and time.
• Serving as a historical reference point for comparisons with modern upper-ocean temperature data.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency for analysis.
• Provides detailed vertical resolution with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Contains precise cruise metadata including date, position, and time for each observation.

Limitations

• The maximum observation depth of ~285 meters limits utility to the upper ocean only.
• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and exact file size are unavailable across all sources.
• Data freshness is conflicted: one source lists a 2026 update, while another indicates the data is from 1962.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1962-05-15 to 1962-05-19

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:36:02.796344

Geography

North Pacific Ocean