Gulf of Mexico Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1969

NOAA NCEI provides bathythermograph (MBT) data collected by the F/S STAGE I vessel in the Gulf of Mexico from July 28 to August 3, 1969. The dataset consists of temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. Data has been processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format for mechanical bathythermograph observations.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean (0-285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying short-term temperature variability in the Gulf of Mexico during late July and early August.
• Validating regional ocean models with historical in-situ temperature profile data.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with observed thermal conditions.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides a specific one-week temporal snapshot (1969-07 28 to 1969-08-03) from a known vessel (F/S STAGE I).
• Temperature values are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating systematic analysis.

Limitations

• Critical metadata such as row count, column names, file size, and license are unavailable across all sources.
• The mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument limits observations to the upper ocean (max ~285m).
• Platforms disagree on the 'last updated' date (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1969-08-03 on NASA Earthdata).

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originally from NODC.

Collection Method

In-situ measurements collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the F/S STAGE I vessel.

Time Range

1969-07-28 to 1969-08-03

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:41:41.879337

Geography

Gulf of Mexico