Bathythermograph (XBT aircraft) data from AIRCRAFT in the Gulf of Mexico and North Pacific Ocean from 1992-08-07 to 1992-10-11 (NCEI Accession 9200272)

The water depth and temperature data were collected in he water depth and temperature data were collected in Gulf of Mexico as part of Louisiana-Texas (LATEX part C) Gulf of Mexico Eddy Circulation Study from aircraft between August 7, 1992 and October 11, 1992. The originator's bathythermograph aerial (AXBT) data containing 67 drops were submitted by Dr. Thomas Berger, Science Applications, Inc. Raleigh NC. The study was supported by grant no MMS 14-35-0001-30633.

LATEX is a three-part, $16.2 million federal initiative funded by the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the Department of the Interior. The study was conducted to aid MMS in reducing risks associated with oil and gas operations on the continental shelf along the Texas and Louisiana coasts from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Rio Grande.

Begun in September 1991, it was the largest physical oceanography program ever undertaken in the Gulf. The program consists of three major parts: LATEX A, B, and C, conducted by the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS), Louisiana State University (LSU), and Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), respectively.

LATEX C was carried out by researchers at SAIC and the University of Colorado. Loop Current eddies, slope eddies, and squirts and jets within the Gulf of Mexico were located and tracked by air-deployed temperature profiling instruments and drifting buoys. Using these data, scientists assessed the impact of these Gulf-wide, circulation features on shelf circulation and identified the processes that interact with the shelf.

Data has been processed by NODC to the NODC standard Bathythermograph (XBT Aircraft) (C118) format.

The C116/C118 format contains temperature-depth profile data obtained using expendable bathythermograph (XBT) instruments. Cruise information, position, date and time were reported for each observation. The data record was comprised of pairs of temperature-depth values. Unlike the MBT Data File, in which temperature values were recorded at uniform 5 m intervals, the XBT data files contained temperature values at non-uniform depths. These depths were recorded at the minimum number of points ("inflection points") required to accurately define the temperature curve. Standard XBTs can obtain profiles to depths of either 450 or 760 m. With special instruments, measurements can be obtained to 1830 m. Prior to July 1994, XBT data were routinely processed to one of these standard types. XBT data are now processed and loaded directly in to the NODC Ocean Profile Data Base (OPDB). Historic data from these two data types were loaded into the OPDB.