North Atlantic Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1965

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data from the OUTPOST cruise in the North Atlantic Ocean, processed to the NODC C128 standard format. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. It was collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration over a 12-day period in May 1965.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature gradient in the upper 285 meters of the ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying short-term thermal variability in the North Atlantic using cruise date, position, and time metadata.
• Benchmarking historical upper-ocean conditions against modern data using standardized NODC C128 format profiles.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized NODC format (C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Profiles provide high vertical resolution with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Includes precise spatiotemporal metadata (cruise information, date, position, time) for each observation.

Limitations

• Data is limited to the upper ocean, with a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Platforms disagree on the last updated date (2026-03-05 vs. 1965-05-12), creating uncertainty about metadata freshness.
• Key technical details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.

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

1965-05-01 to 1965-05-12

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:42:47.249206

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean