Historical Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from the WILLIAMS Expedition, 1945

285 meters is the maximum depth for temperature observations in this dataset, which contains mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) profiles from the vessel WILLIAMS. The data, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the C128 standard format, covers six Pacific Ocean regions over a five-month period in 1945. Each record provides paired temperature-depth values at uniform 5-meter intervals.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to 285m) across multiple Pacific seas.
• Studying historical temperature-depth profiles at standardized 5-meter intervals.
• Correlating ocean temperature conditions with specific cruise dates, times, and geographic positions.
• Investigating regional oceanographic differences in the Bismarck, Coral, North Pacific, Philippine, Solomon, and South Pacific Seas.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring a consistent structure for analysis.
• Provides precise temporal coverage from 1945-01-31 to 1945-06-25 for historical comparison.
• Includes geographic specificity across six distinct ocean regions in the Pacific.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and exact file size are unavailable from all sources.
• Instrument limitation restricts observations to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, capturing only the upper ocean.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' metadata between platforms (2026-04 01 vs. 1945-06-25).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC.

Time Range

1945-01-31 to 1945-06-25

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:00:53.216076

Geography

Bismarck Sea, Coral Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Philippine Sea, Solomon Sea, South Pacific Ocean