Historical North Pacific Ocean Temperature Profiles from the PERSEUS Expedition

North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, and South China Sea temperature-depth profiles collected by the PERSEUS expedition using Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instruments. The dataset contains processed observations from December 25, 1968, to March 1, 1969, formatted to the NODC C128 standard. Data was processed and published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Oceanographic Data Center.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying spatial temperature gradients across the North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, and South China Sea.
• Investigating seasonal ocean temperature variability during the late 1960s winter period.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with observed temperature profiles.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a recognized standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency.
• Temperature observations are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating analysis.
• Provides a focused temporal snapshot over a 2-month cruise in a key oceanic region.

Limitations

• The MBT instrument's maximum depth of ~285 meters limits analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Key metadata such as exact row count, column names, and license are unavailable from the provided sources.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' date between platforms (2026-04-01 vs. 1969-03-01), casting doubt on metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC.

Time Range

1968-12-25 to 1969-03-01

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:18:07.246275

Geography

North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, and South China Sea