Historical Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from USNS Thomas Washington

Bathythermograph data from the USNS Thomas Washington captures temperature-depth profiles in the Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic, and North Pacific Oceans. The dataset contains observations processed to the NODC standard C128 format, covering the period from November 30, 1965, to May 25, 1968. It was collected and processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper 285 meters of the ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying spatial and temporal variability of ocean temperature across the Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic, and North Pacific.
• Investigating historical ocean conditions by utilizing cruise information, date, position, and time reported for each observation.
• Calibrating or validating ocean models with instrument-specific data recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency for analysis.
• Provides a multi-year time series from 1965 to 1968 across three major ocean regions.
• Each profile includes associated metadata such as cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• The maximum observation depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Specific row counts, column names, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• There is a conflict in 'last updated' metadata: datagov reports 2026-03-05, while nasa_earthdata reports the collection end date of 1968-05 25.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce, via the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Collection Method

Collected using the Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the USNS Thomas Washington and processed to the NODC C128 standard format.

Time Range

1965-11-30 to 1968-05-25

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:29:49.381798

Geography

Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, North Pacific Ocean