Historical MBT Temperature Profiles from San Pablo Voyages

285 meters is the maximum depth for temperature observations in this dataset. It contains mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data from the research vessel SAN PABLO, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the C128 standard format. The data covers a 16-year period from 1948 to 1964 across the Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic, and North Pacific Oceans.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical temperature-depth profiles at 5-meter intervals up to 285m depth.
• Studying spatial and temporal variability of upper ocean thermal structure in the Caribbean, North Atlantic, and North Pacific.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with observed temperature patterns.
• Investigating seasonal or interannual changes in near-surface ocean layers from the mid-20th century.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring consistent structure for analysis.
• Covers a multi-decadal time range (16 years from 1948-1964) for studying temporal trends.
• Provides precise geographic coverage across three major ocean regions.

Limitations

• Key quantitative details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Instrument limitation: MBT data is only useful for the upper ocean layers, with a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), from the research vessel SAN PABLO.

Collection Method

Data gathered using mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instruments and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1948-11-01 to 1964-10-31

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:16:25.511667

Geography

Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, North Pacific Ocean