Historical North Atlantic Ocean Temperature Profiles from USNS Blue Jacket

Temperature-depth profiles from the USNS BLUE JACKET cruise in the North Atlantic Ocean, collected from October 16 to November 13, 1963. Data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format for Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) observations, which records pairs of temperature and depth values. The dataset is managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying seasonal or historical ocean temperature variability in the North Atlantic for a specific cruise period.
• Validating or calibrating ocean model outputs for the upper ocean using in-situ profile data.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with observed temperature patterns.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency for analysis.
• Temperature values are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating direct comparison.
• Provides a focused temporal snapshot from a 29-day research cruise in 1963.

Limitations

• MBT instrument maximum depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Key metadata such as exact row count, column names, and file size are unavailable across all platforms.
• The most recent update date (2026-03-05) conflicts with the data's age, suggesting a metadata refresh rather than data update.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during a research cruise and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1963-10 16 to 1963-11-13

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:59:42.776362 (metadata update on datagov)

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean