North Pacific Ocean Temperature Profiles from SAUGATUCK Cruise

June 26 to July 26, 1967, temperature-depth profiles collected by the SAUGATUCK vessel in the North Pacific Ocean using a Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT). Data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format, containing pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals. This dataset provides a focused snapshot of the upper ocean's thermal structure from a specific research cruise.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m depth) for a specific time and region.
• Studying temperature gradients and variability at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Validating or comparing historical MBT instrument data against modern profiling methods.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with observed temperature-depth pairs.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known, documented standard (NODC C128 format).
• Provides a complete, one-month temporal snapshot from a single cruise (June 26 to July 26, 1967).
• Temperature measurements are recorded at a consistent, high-resolution interval (5 meters).

Limitations

• Critical metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Instrument limitation restricts observations to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, capturing only the upper ocean.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date (2026-03 06 vs. 1967-07-26), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originating from NODC processing.

Collection Method

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

Time Range

1967-06-26 to 1967-07-26

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:09:26.157909

Geography

North Pacific Ocean, specific location from the SAUGATUCK cruise.