HMS Tenby Bathythermograph Profiles from the Arabian Sea, 1960

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data contains temperature-depth profiles from the HMS Tenby, collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) in the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, and Indian Ocean. The dataset comprises observations from a single cruise spanning November 2 to 28, 1960, processed into the NODC standard C128 format. Each profile provides paired temperature and depth values at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying spatial temperature gradients across the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, and Indian Ocean using position data.
• Investigating short-term temporal changes in sea surface temperature during November 1960 using date and time stamps.
• Calibrating or validating regional ocean models with historical in-situ profile data.
• Researching the performance and data characteristics of the Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a known, documented standard (NODC C128 format).
• Provides consistent vertical resolution with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.
• Covers a specific, well-documented geographic region and time period (Arabian Sea/Gulf of Oman/Indian Ocean, Nov 1960).

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Instrument limitation restricts data to the upper ocean only, with a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1960-11-28 on NASA Earthdata).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1960-11-02 to 1960-11-28

Freshness

2026-03 05 23:03:38.576089

Geography

Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, Indian Ocean