USS Fletcher Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1967 Pacific Cruise

Temperature-depth profiles from a 1967 U.S. Navy cruise, recorded using a Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument. The dataset contains observations from the North and South Pacific Ocean over a nine-day period, processed into the NODC standard C128 format. Each profile provides paired temperature and depth values at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (0-285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying short-term ocean temperature variability in the Pacific during May 1967 using cruise date and position data.
• Investigating historical data collection methods via the standardized NODC C128 format for MBT instruments.
• Correlating surface layer temperature profiles with cruise information, time, and geographic location.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring a consistent structure for temperature-depth pairs.
• Provides precise temporal (1967-05-10 to 1967-05 18) and geographic (North and South Pacific Ocean) context for each observation.
• Temperature values are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating consistent vertical analysis.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, column names, and license are unavailable across all platforms.
• Instrument limitation restricts observations to a maximum depth of ~285m, capturing only the upper ocean thermal structure.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1967-05-18 on NASA EarthData).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC to its standard C128 format.

Time Range

1967-05 10 to 1967-05-18

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:50:35.726427

Geography

North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean