BARREL 1B: Balloon Ephemeris and Magnetic Coordinates at 4-Second Resolution

Over 50 stratospheric balloon flights were launched across four campaigns from 2013 to 2016, collecting data from Antarctica and Sweden. The dataset provides geographic and magnetic coordinates at 4-second intervals, derived from onboard GPS and the IRBEM library. It was produced by NASA to study electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts in coordination with the Van Allen Probes mission.

Use Cases

• Modeling magnetic field line mapping based on derived magnetic coordinates.
• Analyzing temporal patterns of balloon observations based on the 4-second epoch time data.
• Correlating precipitation events with in-situ satellite measurements based on the spatial array design described.
• Studying the spatial scale of relativistic electron precipitation based on the balloon constellation data.

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 balloon flights across four separate campaigns.
• Coordinates are provided at a high temporal resolution of once every 4 seconds.
• Data collection was coordinated with the Van Allen Probes mission and other ground-based instruments.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• File formats include BIN and PDF, which may require specialized tools for access.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data returned from balloon payloads with GPS and derived via the IRBEM FORTRAN library.

Time Range

Campaigns conducted in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 14:25:19.343775; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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