PERSEUS Bathythermograph Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles 1964

NODC processed mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data from the PERSEUS cruise in the North Pacific Ocean. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, useful for studying the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers to approximately 285 meters. Data collection occurred from May 16 to May 26, 1964.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature structure of the upper ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying short-term thermal variability in the North Pacific during May 1964 using date, time, and position columns.
• Calibrating or validating ocean mixed-layer models with historical in-situ profile data.
• Investigating cruise-specific oceanographic conditions from the PERSEUS expedition.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized NODC format (C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Profiles provide uniform 5-meter depth interval measurements, facilitating direct comparison.
• Contains precise cruise information, date, position, and time for each observation.
• Represents a focused time series from a single research cruise over 11 days.

Limitations

• Maximum observation depth is limited to ~285m, restricting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Key metadata such as exact row count, column names, and license are not provided across sources.
• Data is historical (1964), limiting its use for contemporary analysis without complementary modern data.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC to the C128 format.

Time Range

1964-05-16 to 1964-05-26

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:11:31.382109

Geography

North Pacific Ocean