Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from Saugatuck Cruise

Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic, and North Pacific oceans contain temperature-depth profiles collected by the mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument aboard the SAUGATUCK vessel. Data from March to April 1965 includes cruise information, date, position, and time for each observation, 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 upper ocean thermal structure using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying historical sea surface temperature variability across the Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic, and North Pacific.
• Correlating cruise track position and time data with regional oceanographic conditions.
• Calibrating or validating ocean models with historical profile data from the MBT instrument.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized NODC format (C128), ensuring consistency.
• Provides a specific temporal snapshot from March 1 to April 17, 1965.
• Covers a wide geographic scope spanning three major ocean basins.

Limitations

• Key quantitative details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• Instrument limitation restricts useful data to the upper ocean layers, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one platform showing 2026 and another showing 1965.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument aboard the SAUGATUCK vessel and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1965-03-01 to 1965-04-17

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:06:25.008269

Geography

Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, North Pacific Ocean.