YAQUINA Ship Upper Ocean Temperature Profiles from 1970

Temperature-depth profile pairs collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) from the YAQUINA research vessel in the North Pacific Ocean. The dataset covers a three-day cruise from December 1 to 3, 1970, and was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into its standard C128 format. Data is recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, with a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical temperature structure of the upper ocean for a specific location and time.
• Studying short-term thermal variability over a three-day observation period.
• Using cruise information, date, position, and time metadata to contextualize historical oceanographic observations.
• Benchmarking or validating models of upper ocean heat content using instrument-specific profile data.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC C128), ensuring structural consistency.
• Provides precise metadata for each observation, including cruise, date, position, and time.
• Temperature values are recorded at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating direct profile comparison.

Limitations

• Limited to the upper ocean, with a maximum observation depth of approximately 285 meters.
• Temporal coverage is very narrow, spanning only three days in December 1970.
• Key quantitative details like total row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Collected using a mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument from the YAQUINA vessel.

Time Range

1970-12-01 to 1970-12-03

Freshness

2026-04-01 15:09:50.051763

Geography

North Pacific Ocean (specific coordinates not provided).