Historical North Pacific Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles

1951 to 1967 temperature-depth profiles from the North Pacific Ocean, collected by the vessel TAGE using Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instruments. Data is processed into the NODC standard C128 format, providing paired temperature and depth values at 5-meter intervals up to approximately 285 meters. This dataset offers a multi-decade record of the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers for a specific region.

Use Cases

• Analyzing decadal variability of sea surface temperature and subsurface thermal layers in the North Pacific.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model simulations of historical upper-ocean conditions using observed temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying the vertical temperature gradient and mixed layer depth from profiles recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals.
• Correlating thermal structure changes with cruise information, date, position, and time reported for each observation.

Strengths

• Covers a significant 16-year time range from 1951-09-11 to 1967-06-27.
• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring consistent structure with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Each observation includes associated metadata: cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• MBT instrument maximum depth is ~285 meters, limiting analysis to the upper ocean layers only.
• Key quantitative details like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata: one platform lists 2026-03 05 (likely a system date), while another lists the final data date of 1967-06-27.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce, processed by NODC.

Collection Method

Observations gathered using Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instruments from the vessel TAGE.

Time Range

1951-09-11 to 1967-06-27

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:33:26.198481

Geography

North Pacific Ocean