Historical Bathythermograph Data from USS Richard B. Anderson

Bathythermograph (MBT) data from the USS Richard B. Anderson provides temperature-depth profiles of the upper ocean layers. The dataset covers multiple seas in the Pacific and East Asian region from February 1952 to May 1958. Data was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical thermal structure of the upper ocean using temperature-depth value pairs.
• Studying spatial patterns of sea surface temperature across the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and South Pacific Ocean using position data.
• Investigating seasonal or interannual variability in the upper ocean from 1952 to 1958 using date and time fields.
• Creating baseline models of ocean temperature profiles before modern satellite observation periods.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized NODC format (C128), ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides a multi-year temporal record spanning over six years from 1952 to 1958.
• Covers a wide geographical area including six distinct sea regions.

Limitations

• Instrument depth limitation restricts data to the upper ~285 meters of the ocean.
• Specific row count, column names, and dataset size are unknown.
• Conflicting last update dates exist between platforms (2026 vs. 1958).

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), from USS Richard B. Anderson.

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1952-02-07 to 1958-05-12

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:49:35.441525

Geography

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