Historical North Atlantic Ocean Temperature Profiles from the Eastward

Mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) data collected during the Eastward cruise in the North Atlantic Ocean from November 1968 to June 1969. The dataset contains temperature-depth profile pairs recorded at uniform 5-meter intervals down to a maximum depth of approximately 285 meters, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) into the standard C128 format. This data provides a snapshot of the thermal structure of the ocean's upper layers during this specific period.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the vertical thermal structure of the upper ocean using paired temperature-depth values.
• Studying temporal changes in sea surface and subsurface temperatures across the cruise's time range.
• Mapping spatial temperature distributions in the North Atlantic using reported position data.
• Correlating cruise information, date, and time with specific temperature-depth profiles for event-based analysis.

Strengths

• Data is standardized to the NODC C128 format, ensuring a consistent structure for analysis.
• Temperature measurements are recorded at a uniform 5-meter depth interval, providing regular vertical resolution.
• Each observation includes associated metadata such as cruise information, date, position, and time.

Limitations

• The mechanical bathythermograph's maximum depth of ~285 meters limits analysis to the ocean's upper layers only.
• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are unknown from the provided sources.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one showing a future date (2026-03-05) and another showing the end of the data collection period (1969-06-01).

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected via mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument during the Eastward cruise and processed by NODC.

Time Range

1968-11-06 to 1969-06-01

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:52:19.722094

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean