ICES Guidelines for XBT data. (Compiled January 2000; revised August 2001; April 2006)

Abstract

The Expendable Bathythermograph (XBT) has been used by oceanographers for many years to obtain information on the temperature structure of the ocean to depths of up to 1500 meters. The XBT probe is typically launched from a steaming ship. During the probes descent, it measures the water temperature. Two very small wires transmit the temperature data to a ship computer where it is recorded for later analysis. The probe is designed to fall at a constant rate, so that the depth of the probe can be inferred from the time since it was launched.