Historical Ocean Temperature Profiles from HMAS Yarra

Multiple seas in the Indian and Pacific Oceans contain temperature-depth profiles collected by HMAS Yarra using a Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT). The dataset covers a 4-year period from December 1964 to March 1968 and has been processed into the NODC's standard C128 format. Data originates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the thermal structure of the upper ocean (up to ~285m) using temperature-depth value pairs.
• Studying spatial temperature patterns across seas like the Bay of Bengal, Coral Sea, and South China Sea.
• Investigating temporal changes in near-surface ocean temperature from 1964 to 1968 using cruise date and time.
• Correlating ocean thermal conditions with specific cruise information and geographic positions.

Strengths

• Data is standardized in the NODC C128 format, ensuring consistent structure.
• Provides a multi-year time series covering a 4-year period from 1964-12-21 to 1968-03 29.
• Records temperature at uniform 5-meter depth intervals, facilitating consistent vertical analysis.
• Cross-platform presence on datagov and nasa_earthdata signals recognized importance.

Limitations

• Row count, column names, and exact dataset size are unknown across all sources.
• MBT instrument limits observations to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, restricting analysis to the upper ocean.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date (2026-03-05 vs. 1968-03-29), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected via Mechanical Bathythermograph (MBT) instrument on HMAS Yarra and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1964-12-21 to 1968-03-29

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:00:41.623675

Geography

Andaman Sea, Burma Sea, Bay of Bengal, Coral Sea, Great Australian Bight, Indian Ocean, Laccadive Sea, Philippine Sea, South China Sea, Tasman Sea