Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from the Caribbean and North Atlantic

Mechanical bathythermograph data from the R/V VIDAL spans from June 27, 1954, to May 15, 1963. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters. It was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center into the standard C128 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing upper ocean thermal structure using temperature-depth value pairs.
• Studying historical oceanographic conditions in the Caribbean Sea based on cruise, date, and position data.
• Investigating seasonal or interannual temperature variability in the North Atlantic from 1954 to 1963.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model outputs for the upper 285 meters of the water column.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized format (NODC C128), ensuring consistency.
• Provides a specific temporal range of nearly nine years (1954-06-27 to 1963-05-15).
• Spatial coverage is clearly defined across two ocean regions: the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean.

Limitations

• Key metrics like row count, file size, and specific column names are unknown.
• The instrument's maximum depth of ~285m limits analysis to the upper ocean layers only.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-04-01 on Data.gov vs. 1963-05-15 on NASA Earthdata).

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

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

Time Range

1954-06-27 to 1963-05-15

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:19:28.814878

Geography

Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean.