Ocean Temperature Profiles from the 1962 O'BRIEN North Pacific Expedition

September 1962 data contains temperature-depth profiles from the vessel O'BRIEN in the North Pacific Ocean and Philippine Sea. The dataset comprises pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format. It is published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying spatial and temporal ocean temperature variability in the North Pacific and Philippine Sea for September 1962.
• Validating or calibrating ocean model simulations for historical periods using precise cruise date, position, and time metadata.
• Researching oceanographic instrumentation history and data standardization via the NODC C128 format.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC C128), ensuring structural consistency.
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a specific research cruise from September 14-30, 1962.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at a uniform 5-meter depth interval, facilitating systematic analysis.

Limitations

• The maximum observation depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the ocean's upper layers only.
• Key quantitative details like total row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• A conflict exists on the 'last updated' metadata, with one source stating 2026-03-05 and another 1962-09 30.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC.

Time Range

1962-09-14 to 1962-09-30

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:56:09.919271

Geography

North Pacific Ocean and Philippine Sea