South China Sea Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1945

Temperature-depth profiles from a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) deployed from the TACLOBAN in the South China Sea. The dataset contains observations from a two-day period in March 1945, processed into the NODC standard C128 format. It was collected and processed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Oceanographic Data Center.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature structure of the upper ocean up to 285 meters depth.
• Studying historical ocean conditions for climate model validation.
• Examining temperature data recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Correlating thermal profiles with specific cruise, date, position, and time metadata.

Strengths

• Data is formatted to a known standard (NODC C128 format) ensuring structural consistency.
• Provides precise temporal and spatial context with specific dates (1945-03-07 to 1945 03-08) and location (South China Sea).
• Temperature observations are recorded at a consistent vertical resolution of 5-meter intervals.

Limitations

• Key technical details are missing, including row count, file size, and specific column names.
• The maximum observation depth of ~285 meters limits analysis to the upper ocean only.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' metadata between platforms (2026 vs. 1945).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC.

Time Range

1945-03-07 to 1945-03-08

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:30:38.683395

Geography

South China Sea, from the TACLOBAN.