Historical Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from the 1964 PERSEUS Expedition

The Japan Sea, North Pacific Ocean, and Philippine Sea are covered by this dataset of historical mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) measurements. It contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, collected during the PERSEUS cruise from June 28 to August 2, 1964. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration processed the data to the NODC standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (0-285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying spatial temperature gradients across the Japan Sea, North Pacific, and Philippine Sea regions.
• Investigating short-term (summer 1964) upper ocean temperature variability using time-series data linked to cruise date and time.
• Validating or providing historical context for ocean model simulations of the Northwest Pacific region.
• Mapping cruise track and sampling locations using reported position data (latitude/longitude).

Strengths

• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring a consistent structure for temperature-depth profile pairs.
• Provides a focused temporal snapshot from a specific research cruise over a 36-day period in 1964.
• Covers a geographically significant area spanning multiple marine basins in the Northwest Pacific.

Limitations

• Key technical specifications are unknown, including the total number of profiles (rows), specific column names, and dataset size.
• Instrument limitation restricts observations to the upper ocean (max ~285m), making it unsuitable for deep-water studies.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata exists between platforms (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1964-08-02 on NASA Earthdata).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Temperature-depth profiles obtained using the mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument, processed by NODC.

Time Range

1964-06-28 to 1964-08-02

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:34:24.047921

Geography

Japan Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea