PERSEUS Cruise Temperature-Depth Profiles in the North Pacific

North Pacific Ocean and Philippine Sea data contains temperature-depth profile pairs from a 1967 cruise of the PERSEUS, processed to the NODC standard C128 format. The dataset captures the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers, with observations recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals. It was collected and processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) and is maintained by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean using temperature-depth value pairs.
• Studying historical ocean conditions in the North Pacific and Philippine Sea during August 1967.
• Validating or calibrating ocean model outputs for the upper 285 meters of the water column.
• Investigating short-term temperature variability in surface and near-surface ocean layers.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency for analysis.
• Observations provide detailed vertical resolution with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• The dataset has a precise temporal scope, covering a focused 20-day cruise from August 9 to 28, 1967.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• The mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument limits observations to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Platforms disagree on the last update date: datagov lists 2026-03-05, while nasa_earthdata lists the original collection date of 1967-08-28.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), via the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Collection Method

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

Time Range

1967-08-09 to 1967-08-28

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:45:52.146410

Geography

North Pacific Ocean and Philippine Sea