Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from the SHEARWATER Expedition

Mechanical bathythermograph data from the SHEARWATER research vessel in the North Pacific Ocean, collected between February and May 1967. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center into the standard C128 format. Observations are limited to the upper ocean layers, with measurements recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying seasonal ocean temperature changes in the North Pacific during the spring of 1967.
• Correlating cruise position and time metadata with observed temperature profiles for spatial analysis.
• Providing a historical baseline for comparison with modern oceanographic datasets.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known standard format (NODC C128), ensuring a consistent structure.
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a specific research cruise from 1967 02 23 to 1967 05 14.
• Includes core metadata for each observation: cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• Key quantitative details are missing: row count, file size, and specific column names are unknown.
• The maximum observation depth of ~285 meters restricts analysis to the ocean's upper layers only.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata exists between platforms (2026 vs. 1967), casting doubt on provenance maintenance.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

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

Time Range

1967-02-23 to 1967-05-14

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:33:50.677976

Geography

North Pacific Ocean