North Atlantic Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1964

Temperature-depth profile data collected by the vessel SEARCHER using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) in the North Atlantic Ocean. The dataset contains pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format. Observations are limited to the upper ocean layers, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper North Atlantic Ocean in October-November 1964.
• Studying temperature changes at specific depth intervals (e.g., every 5 meters) for a given cruise location and time.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with observed temperature-depth profiles.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known, documented standard (NODC C128 format).
• Provides consistent depth sampling with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals.
• Covers a specific, defined time period (1964-10 17 to 1964-11-05) and geographic area (North Atlantic Ocean).

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, file size, and license are unavailable from all sources.
• Instrument limitation restricts data to the upper ocean (max depth ~285 m), excluding deeper thermal structure.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-04-01 on datagov vs. 1964-11-05 on nasa_earthdata).

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

1964-10-17 to 1964-11-05

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:28:22.044606

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean