USS Hollister Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles 1947-1967

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provides bathythermograph data from the USS Hollister, processed to the NODC C128 standard. The dataset contains temperature-depth profiles from the East China Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, and South China Sea, recorded between July 1947 and March 1967. Each observation includes cruise information, date, position, and time, with temperature recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals up to approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical temperature-depth profiles for the upper 285 meters of the ocean.
• Studying thermal structure changes in the East China Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, and South China Sea over a 20-year period.
• Validating or supplementing ocean model reconstructions for the mid-20th century using observed cruise-based data.
• Investigating spatial patterns of upper ocean temperature from data pairs recorded at 5-meter intervals.

Strengths

• Data spans a 20-year time range from 1947 to 1967, providing a historical baseline.
• Observations follow a standardized format (NODC C128) with uniform 5-meter depth intervals for consistency.
• Includes precise metadata for each profile: cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• Key technical details are unknown: total row count, specific column names, and dataset size.
• Data is limited to the upper ocean, with a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-04-01 on datagov vs. 1967-03 26 on nasa_earthdata).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC to the C128 format.

Time Range

1947-07-01 to 1967-03-26

Freshness

2026-04-01 14:58:21.368164

Geography

East China Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, South China Sea