Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from the WYANDOT Vessel

Over 285 temperature-depth profile pairs were collected by the vessel WYANDOT using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration processed the data into the NODC standard C128 format, with measurements recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals. Observations span from June 1955 to January 1959 across multiple ocean basins.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to 285m) using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying spatial patterns of sea surface temperature and subsurface layers across the Alboran Sea, Mediterranean, and multiple ocean basins.
• Investigating temporal changes in ocean conditions from 1955 to 1959 using cruise date and time metadata.
• Calibrating or validating historical ocean model simulations with instrument-based profile data.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring a consistent structure for temperature-depth pairs.
• Provides a multi-year time series from 1955-06 05 to 1959-01-15, capturing seasonal and interannual variability.
• Covers a wide geographic range including the Alboran Sea, Mediterranean Sea, North and South Atlantic, North and South Pacific, and Southern Ocean.

Limitations

• The maximum observation depth is approximately 285 meters, limiting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Specific row counts, column names, and file size are not provided by any source, obscuring the dataset's scale.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata exists between platforms (2026-03-05 on data.gov vs. 1959-01-15 on NASA EarthData).

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument measurements processed by NODC to a standard format.

Time Range

1955-06-05 to 1959-01-15

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:38:47.275746

Geography

Alboran Sea, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, Southern Ocean