Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from the Puritan Vessel

1942-08-03 to 1942-08-11 data contains mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) temperature-depth profiles from the vessel PURITAN in the North Pacific Ocean. The dataset, processed by NODC into the standard C128 format, consists of pairs of temperature-depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. It provides a snapshot of upper-ocean thermal structure during a specific World War II-era cruise.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean (to ~285m) for a specific time and region using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying short-term oceanic variability during August 1942 using cruise date, position, and time metadata for each profile.
• Serving as a reference point for historical baseline comparisons in climate change studies of the North Pacific.
• Understanding data collection and standardization methods (NODC C128 format) for early 20th-century oceanographic instruments.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to a known, documented format (NODC C128) ensuring structural consistency.
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a specific 9-day cruise in August 1942.
• Records temperature at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating straightforward vertical analysis.
• Cross-platform presence (Data.gov, NASA Earthdata) indicates recognized archival importance.

Limitations

• Key technical details are unknown, including the total number of profiles (rows), specific column names, and file size.
• Instrument limitation restricts data to the upper ocean only, with a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters.
• There is a conflict in 'last updated' metadata: Data.gov reports 2026-03-05, while NASA Earthdata reports the original data date of 1942-08 11.

Provenance

Source

NOAA NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information), originally from NODC (National Oceanographic Data Center) processing.

Collection Method

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

Time Range

1942-08-03 to 1942-08-11

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:36:58.793715

Geography

North Pacific Ocean (specific cruise track not detailed)