Water temperature and salinity profile data from bottle and bathythermograph (BT) casts in the Global Ocean from multiple ships and institutions prior to 1961 (NCEI Accession 6000000)

This dataset includes bathythermograph (MBT), ocean station data in the Alboran Sea, Andaman Sea or Burma Sea, Arabian Sea, Arctic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Barents Sea, Bay of Bengal, Bay of Biscay, Bay of Fundy, Beaufort Sea, Bering Sea, Bismarck Sea, Black Sea, Bristol Channel, Caribbean Sea, Chukchi Sea, Coastal Waters of Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, Coral Sea, Davis Strait, East China Sea, East Siberian Sea, English Channel, Great Australian Bight, Greenland Sea, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Alaska, Gulf of Aqaba, Gulf of California, Gulf of Guinea, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Oman, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Gulf of Suez, Gulf of Thailand, Hudson Bay, Indian Ocean, Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland, Irish Sea and St. George's Channel, Japan Sea, Kara Sea, Kattegat, The Sound, Storebælt, Lillebælt, Laccadive Sea, Laptev Sea, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, North Sea, Northwestern Passages, Norwegian Sea, Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Philippine Sea, Red Sea, Rio de la Plata, Sea of Azov, Sea of Marmara, Sea of Okhotsk, Seto Naikai, Skagerrak, Solomon Sea, South Atlantic Ocean, South China Sea, South Pacific Ocean, Southern Ocean, Tasman Sea, White Sea, and Yellow Sea from 1902-08-09 to 1960-12-12.

Data has been processed by NODC to the NODC standard Bathythermograph (MBT) (C128) and Ocean Station (C100) formats.

The Oceanographic Station Data (C100) format contains physical-chemical oceanographic data recorded at discrete depth levels. Most of the observations were made using multi-bottle Nansen casts or other types of water samplers. A small amount (about 5 percent) were obtained using electronic CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) or STD (salinity-temperature-depth) recorders. The CTD/STD data were reported to NODC at depth levels equivalent to Nansen cast data, however, and have been processed and stored the same as the Nansen data. Cruise information (e.g., ship, country, institution), position, date, and time, and reported for each station. The principal measured parameters and temperature and salinity, but dissolved oxygen, phosphate, total phosphorus, silicate, nitrate, nitrite, and pH may be reported. Meteorological conditions at the time of the cast (e.g., air temperature and pressure, wind, waves) may also be reported, as well as auxiliary data such as water color (Forel-Ule scale), water transparency (Secchi disk depth), and depth to bottom. Values of density (sigma-t) sound velocity, and dynamic depth anomaly are computed from measured parameters. Each station contains the measurements taken at the observed depth levels, but also includes data values interpolated to a set of standard depth levels.

The C128 format is used for temperature-depth profile data obtained using the mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) instrument. The maximum depth of MBT observations is approximately 285 m. Therefore, MBT data are useful only in studying the thermal structure of the upper layers of the ocean. Cruise information, date, position, and time are reported for each observation. The data record comprises pairs of temperature-depth values. Temperature data in this file are recorded at uniform 5 m depth intervals.