Historical Bathythermograph Data from USS Ingersoll Cruises

From 1954-01-14 to 1961-01-09, this dataset contains temperature-depth profiles collected by the USS Ingersoll using Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instruments. The data, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the C128 format, covers multiple seas and oceans including the Bay of Bengal, East China Sea, Indian Ocean, and North Pacific Ocean. It provides a record of the thermal structure of the upper ocean layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical temperature-depth profiles in the upper 285m of specific ocean basins like the South China Sea.
• Studying the thermal structure and variability of the upper ocean layer across seasons and years from 1954 to 1961.
• Validating or providing historical context for ocean model simulations of mid-20th century conditions.
• Investigating cruise-specific oceanographic conditions based on reported cruise information, date, position, and time.

Strengths

• Covers a multi-year time range from 1954 to 1961, providing a historical baseline.
• Data is processed to a standardized NODC format (C128), ensuring consistency.
• Spatial coverage is broad, encompassing ten distinct seas and ocean basins.
• Temperature data is recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating analysis.

Limitations

• The maximum observation depth is approximately 285m, limiting analysis to the upper ocean layers only.
• Key metadata such as exact row count, column names, and license are unknown or not provided across all platforms.
• The last updated date conflicts between sources (2026-03-05 on datagov vs. 1961-01-09 on nasa_earthdata), casting uncertainty on maintenance.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), originally from USS Ingersoll cruises.

Collection Method

Collected using Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instruments and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1954-01-14 to 1961-01-09

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:56:46.817666

Geography

Bay of Bengal, East China Sea, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Suez, Indian Ocean, Japan Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, Red Sea, South China Sea.