Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from RV Physalia Cruise

Bathythermograph (MBT) data from the RV Physalia cruise provides temperature-depth profiles for the Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic Ocean. The dataset covers the period from October 14, 1954, to May 19, 1955, and was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format. Temperature values are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals up to a maximum of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing seasonal thermal structure changes in the upper ocean using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying historical ocean conditions in the Gulf of Mexico via cruise date, position, and time metadata.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model simulations for the 1950s using standardized NODC C128 format data.
• Investigating spatial temperature gradients in the North Atlantic Ocean from profile data.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring consistent structure for temperature-depth profiles.
• Provides a specific temporal coverage from 1954-10-14 to 1955-05-19 for a defined research cruise.
• Temperature data is recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating systematic analysis of the upper ocean.

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 ~285m, restricting study to the ocean's upper layers.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date, with one platform listing 2026-03-05 and another listing the original data end date of 1955-05-19.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Data gathered using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the RV Physalia cruise and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1954-10-14 to 1955-05-19

Freshness

2026-03 05 23:03:33.727448

Geography

Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic Ocean