Royal Pacific Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1962

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data from the research vessel ROYAL PACIFIC, capturing temperature-depth profiles in the North Pacific Ocean. The dataset, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the C128 format, contains observations from March 1 to April 9, 1962. It is hosted by NOAA NCEI and also appears on NASA Earthdata, indicating its cross-platform relevance.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper 285 meters of the ocean using temperature-depth value pairs.
• Studying seasonal or spatial temperature variations in the North Pacific Ocean using cruise date, position, and time metadata.
• Providing historical baseline data for climate change studies of ocean surface layers.

Strengths

• Data is formatted to a consistent NODC standard (C128), ensuring structural uniformity.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating systematic analysis.
• Presence on both NOAA NCEI and NASA Earthdata platforms signals recognized importance and curation.

Limitations

• The dataset is limited to the upper ocean, with a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and license are unavailable across all sources.
• The last update date conflicts between sources (2026-04-01 on datagov vs. 1962-04-09 on nasa_earthdata).

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)/National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed to NODC standard C128 format.

Time Range

1962-03-01 to 1962-04-09

Freshness

2026-04-01 14:55:20.714228

Geography

North Pacific Ocean