Historical Bathythermograph Profiles from Albatross II Cruise

North Pacific Ocean temperature-depth profiles collected by the research vessel Albatross II during a five-day cruise in July 1962. The data, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), consists of pairs of temperature and depth values recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. This dataset provides a snapshot of the upper ocean's thermal structure from a specific historical period.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean using paired temperature and depth columns.
• Studying historical ocean conditions during a specific time period using the recorded date, position, and time for each observation.
• Investigating cruise-specific data patterns by linking profiles to the Albatross II expedition information.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency.
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a five-day period from July 21-25, 1962.
• Contains geospatial context with position data for each observation in the North Pacific Ocean.

Limitations

• The mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument limits observations to the upper 285 meters of the ocean.
• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Sources disagree on the last updated date (1962 vs. 2026), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument aboard the R/V Albatross II.

Time Range

1962-07-21 to 1962-07-25

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:46:23.344528

Geography

North Pacific Ocean (specific cruise track coordinates not detailed).