Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from the SPENCER F. BAIRD Cruise

Temperature-depth profiles from the SPENCER F. BAIRD research cruise collected between July 12 and August 24, 1957. Data covers the Bering Sea, Coastal Waters of Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, Gulf of Alaska, and North Pacific Ocean. The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) processed the mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data into the standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to 285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying historical ocean conditions in the North Pacific region using cruise date, position, and time metadata.
• Calibrating or validating ocean models with temperature data recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a recognized standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency.
• Provides a focused temporal snapshot from a single research cruise over a 44-day period in 1957.
• Covers a specific geographic region including the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska.

Limitations

• Key technical details are missing, including row count, column names, and exact file size.
• The mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument limits useful observations to the upper ocean layers (max ~285m).
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata exists between platforms (2026 vs 1957), creating uncertainty about provenance timestamps.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during a research cruise and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1957-07-12 to 1957-08-24

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:58:48.356739

Geography

Bering Sea, Coastal Waters of Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, Gulf of Alaska, North Pacific Ocean.