SHIKINAMI MBT Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1961 North Pacific Cruise

NOAA_NCEI provides mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data collected by the SHIKINAMI vessel in the North Pacific Ocean during February 1961. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. Data has been processed into the NODC standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing thermal stratification in the upper ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying historical ocean conditions in the North Pacific using cruise date, position, and time metadata.
• Calibrating or validating upper-layer ocean models with standardized C128 format profile data.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized NODC format (C128), ensuring consistency.
• Profiles provide high vertical resolution with measurements at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Dataset has a specific and documented temporal coverage from 1961-02-08 to 1961-02-23.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and file size are unavailable across all sources.
• Instrument limitation restricts observations to a maximum depth of ~285 meters, capturing only upper ocean layers.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2026-03-06 on Data.gov vs. 1961-02-23 on NASA Earthdata).

Provenance

Source

NOAA_NCEI

Collection Method

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

Time Range

1961-02-08 to 1961-02-23

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:15:05.896410

Geography

North Pacific Ocean