Historical Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from USS Interceptor

North Pacific Ocean and South China Sea temperature-depth profiles collected by the USS Interceptor between 1957 and 1962. The dataset contains mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) observations processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center into its standard C128 format. Data is useful for studying the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical upper ocean temperature gradients using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying seasonal or interannual thermal variability in the North Pacific from 1957 to 1962.
• Mapping cruise-based temperature profiles using reported position, date, and time for each observation.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model simulations of the upper 285 meters for the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a recognized standard format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency.
• Provides a multi-year time series from 1957-08 10 to 1962-09-09 for temporal analysis.
• Temperature data is recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating profile comparison.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Instrument limitation restricts observations to the upper ocean (max ~285 m), excluding deeper thermal structure.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-03-05 on Data.gov vs. 1962-09-09 on NASA Earthdata).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC.

Time Range

1957-08-10 to 1962-09-09

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:48:44.470986

Geography

North Pacific Ocean and South China Sea