Historical Bathythermograph Data from USCGC Staten Island Cruises

Data from 1956-11-06 to 1965-02-25 contains temperature-depth profiles collected using Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instruments aboard the USCGC Staten Island across multiple oceans. Processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format, the dataset provides paired temperature-depth values at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum of 285 meters. This collection offers a view of upper-ocean thermal structure from a period of early systematic ocean observation.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical temperature gradients in the upper ocean layers using the paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying decadal-scale thermal variability in the Arctic Ocean, Bering Sea, and Chukchi Sea from the 1950s and 1960s.
• Validating or initializing ocean climate models with historical in-situ profile data from the Southern Ocean and South Pacific.
• Mapping cruise tracks and sampling locations using the reported position, date, and time for each observation.

Strengths

• Provides a multi-year time series from 1956 to 1965 across ten distinct ocean regions.
• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring a consistent structure for analysis.
• Includes precise metadata for each profile: cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• Platform sources conflict on the last update date: one lists 2026-04-01, another lists 1965-02-25.
• Limited vertical resolution to approximately 285 meters, restricting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Critical metadata such as row count, specific column names, and license information are unavailable from all sources.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originating from USCGC Staten Island cruises.

Collection Method

Collected via Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instruments and processed to the NODC standard C128 format.

Time Range

1956-11-06 to 1965-02-25

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:20:39.145556 (most recent update reported, though conflicting with other source).

Geography

Arctic Ocean, Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea, Great Australian Bight, Indian Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, Southern Ocean, Tasman Sea.