BARREL 1A: Bremsstrahlung X-ray Spectra from Balloon Campaigns for Radiation Belt Studies

NASA's BARREL mission collected Bremsstrahlung X-ray spectra using a NaI scintillator with 256 energy channels from 0 to 10 MeV. Over 50 stratospheric balloons were launched across four campaigns from Antarctica (2013-2014) and Sweden (2015-2016) to study relativistic electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts. This Level 2 dataset provides slow time resolution spectra integrated over 32-second intervals.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temporal variations in electron precipitation based on 32-second integrated X-ray spectra.
• Characterizing the spatial scale of relativistic electron precipitation events using multi-balloon constellation data.
• Correlating balloon-based X-ray measurements with in-situ plasma wave and particle data from the Van Allen Probes.
• Studying the energy distribution of precipitating electrons based on the 256-channel Bremsstrahlung X-ray spectra.

Strengths

• Data is from a dedicated NASA Living with a Star mission designed to augment the Van Allen Probes.
• Provides the first balloon measurements of relativistic electron precipitation coordinated with comprehensive in-situ measurements.
• Covers four campaigns with over 50 balloon launches from Antarctica and Sweden, offering spatial and temporal coverage.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML tasks.
• Data is provided in multiple formats (BIN, PDF, TEXT, HTML), which may require specialized tools for processing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measured by X-ray spectrometers and DC magnetometers carried on stratospheric balloons.

Time Range

Campaigns conducted in January-February 2013, 2014, August 2015, and August 2016.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 04:30:42.670204; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Balloon launches from Halley Bay and SANAE IV base in Antarctica, and Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden.