North Pacific Ocean Temperature Profiles from YAQUINA Cruise

North Pacific Ocean bathythermograph data records temperature-depth profiles from the YAQUINA cruise between November 21 and 24, 1969. The dataset, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format, contains pairs of temperature and depth values sampled at uniform 5-meter intervals. It is hosted by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature structure of the upper ocean up to approximately 285 meters depth.
• Studying short-term thermal variability in a specific North Pacific region over a four-day period.
• Validating or calibrating ocean mixed-layer models using historical in-situ profile data.
• Correlating cruise information, date, position, and time with corresponding temperature-depth pairs.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC C128) ensuring structural consistency.
• Temperature values are recorded at a consistent, high-resolution 5-meter depth interval.
• Provides precise temporal coverage for a specific cruise from 1969-11-21 to 1969-11 24.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• The mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument limits observations to a maximum depth of ~285m, excluding deeper ocean layers.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2026-03-05 on datagov vs. 1969-11-24 on nasa_earthdata).

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), via the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Collection Method

In-situ measurements collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the YAQUINA cruise.

Time Range

1969-11-21 to 1969-11-24

Freshness

2026-03-05 22:52:15.802923

Geography

North Pacific Ocean, specific location from the YAQUINA cruise.