Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from YAQUINA Research Vessel

7600314 NCEI accession contains mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data collected by the YAQUINA vessel from 1956 to 1968. The dataset provides temperature-depth profile pairs at 5-meter intervals, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format. Observations cover the upper ocean layers in the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, and North Pacific Ocean.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using temperature-depth pairs.
• Studying seasonal or interannual temperature variability in the North Pacific from 1956-1968.
• Mapping historical ocean conditions in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska using cruise, date, position, and time metadata.
• Calibrating or validating ocean model simulations of upper-layer thermodynamics for the mid-20th century.

Strengths

• Data spans a 12-year time range from June 1956 to January 1968.
• Temperature observations are recorded at a uniform 5-meter depth interval, enabling consistent profile analysis.
• Processed to a documented standard (NODC C128 format) by a authoritative organization (NOAA/NODC).

Limitations

• Key metadata conflicts: row count, column names, file size, and license are unknown across all platforms.
• Instrument limitation: MBT maximum depth is ~285 meters, restricting analysis to the upper ocean only.
• Data freshness is unclear; the last metadata update is listed as 2026, which is a future date and likely an error.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce, via the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Collection Method

Temperature-depth profiles obtained using the mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the YAQUINA research vessel.

Time Range

1956-06-10 to 1968-01-05

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:29:04.726430 (datagov), but this appears to be an erroneous future date; the actual data collection ended in 1968.

Geography

Bering Sea, Coastal Waters of Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, Gulf of Alaska, North Pacific Ocean.