HMAS Tobruk Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles

285 meters is the maximum observation depth for these mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) records. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs from the HMAS Tobruk, collected across multiple seas from 1957 to 1959 and processed into the NODC C128 standard format. Data points are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to 285m) across seven different seas.
• Studying historical ocean temperature trends and variability from the late 1950s.
• Correlating temperature-depth profiles with specific cruise dates, times, and geographic positions.
• Validating or supplementing regional ocean models with in-situ historical observations.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring a consistent structure for analysis.
• Covers a multi-year time range (1957-03 27 to 1959-05-31) across a wide geographic area in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
• Temperature values are recorded at a uniform 5-meter depth interval, facilitating systematic profile comparison.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and exact file size are unavailable from all sources.
• The MBT instrument's maximum depth of ~285m limits analysis to the ocean's upper layers only.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument on HMAS Tobruk and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1957-03-27 to 1959-05-31

Freshness

2026-04-01 14:56:54.339964

Geography

East China Sea, Great Australian Bight, Indian Ocean, Japan Sea, Philippine Sea, South China Sea, Tasman Sea