Oceanographic station, temperature profile, meteorological, and other data were collected from bottle and XBT casts from the ARGUS and other platforms from 18 October 1977 to 19 September 1978. Data were collected by the Atlantic Research Institute of Fishing Economy and Oceanography (AtlantNIRO) as part of the Marine Resources Monitoring, Assessment and Prediction (MARMAP) project. Data were processed by NODC to the NODC standard Oceanographic Station Data (SD2) and Universal bathythermograph Output (UBT) formats. Full format descriptions are available from the NODC homepage at www.nodc.noaa.gov/.

The Oceanographic Station Data 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 UBT 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 records are comprised of pairs of temperature-depth values. The XBT data files contain 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 450 m or 760 m. Special instruments permitted measurements to 1830 m.