Naval XBT Temperature-Depth Profiles from 1982-1983

November 18, 1982, to April 30, 1983, is the temporal coverage for this collection of expendable bathythermograph (XBT) temperature-depth profiles. Data was gathered by five U.S. naval vessels across the Caribbean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, and Southern Ocean. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration processed the data into the NODC standard C116 format, which records temperature at non-uniform inflection points along the depth profile.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical ocean temperature structure by pairing temperature and depth values from inflection points.
• Studying spatial temperature gradients across multiple ocean basins using recorded cruise position data.
• Investigating seasonal oceanographic changes in the Southern Ocean using time-stamped profiles from the five-month cruise period.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model outputs with in-situ temperature profiles measured to depths of up to 1830 meters.

Strengths

• Data covers a specific five-month period from late 1982 to early 1983, providing a focused temporal snapshot.
• Profiles were collected across six major ocean bodies, offering broad spatial coverage for the time period.
• Data was processed to a documented standard (NODC C116 format) by a national oceanographic data center (NODC).

Limitations

• The exact number of rows (profiles) and the full column schema are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one platform listing 2026-03 05 and another listing the end date of the data collection (1983-04-30).
• License information is not available for this dataset.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Temperature-depth profiles gathered using expendable bathythermograph (XBT) instruments from USCGC Glacier, USS O'Bannon, USS Radford, USS Stephen W. Groves, and USS TEXAS.

Time Range

1982-11-18 to 1983-04-30

Freshness

2026.03.05 23:54:03.037713

Geography

Caribbean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, Southern Ocean