Historical Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from the North Atlantic

This dataset contains mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) temperature-depth profiles collected by the vessel SEARCHER in the North Atlantic Ocean. Data spans from 1957-01-28 to 1961-10-29 and has been processed into the NODC standard C128 format, with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals up to approximately 285 meters. It is curated and provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing thermal stratification in the upper ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying seasonal or interannual temperature changes in the North Atlantic from the late 1950s.
• Correlating surface ocean conditions with cruise information, date, position, and time metadata.
• Benchmarking historical upper-ocean heat content against modern measurements.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides a multi-year temporal record from 1957 to 1961 for time-series analysis.
• Includes precise metadata for each observation: cruise, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• The maximum observation depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by the sources.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date, reporting either 1961-10 29 or a future date of 2026-04-01.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce.

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the vessel SEARCHER and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1957-01-28 to 1961-10-29

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:02:54.898082

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean