North Atlantic Historical Bathythermograph Profiles from Orleans Parish

ORLEANS PARISH in the North Atlantic Ocean is the location for this dataset of mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) observations. It contains temperature-depth profile data collected between October 2 and November 12, 1955, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format. The data is useful for studying the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical sea surface temperature and subsurface thermal structure using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying seasonal oceanographic conditions in the North Atlantic during fall 1955 using cruise, date, position, and time metadata.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model hindcasts for the upper 285 meters of the water column.
• Researching the evolution of oceanographic instrumentation and data standardization via the NODC C128 format.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC C128), ensuring structural consistency.
• Temporal scope is precisely defined for a focused six-week period in late 1955.
• Measurement methodology is clearly described, specifying uniform 5-meter depth intervals for temperature recordings.
• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov signals its importance as a preserved historical record.

Limitations

• Critical metadata conflicts: row count, file size, and specific column names are unknown across all sources.
• The dataset's utility is limited to the upper ocean, as MBT observations have a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Data freshness is unclear; the last metadata update (2026-04-01) appears to be a system artifact, not a data revision.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originally from National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed to NODC standard C128 format.

Time Range

1955-10-02 to 1955-11-12

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:09:34.596068

Geography

ORLEANS PARISH, North Atlantic Ocean