BARREL: Balloon Measurements of Radiation Belt Electron Precipitation, 2013-2016

Four balloon campaigns from 2013 to 2016 collected over 50 flights measuring relativistic electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts. The data, produced by NASA's BARREL mission, consist of 4-second accumulations of uncalibrated rate counter measurements from NaI scintillators flown on stratospheric balloons. Observations were coordinated with the Van Allen Probes mission and other instruments from launch sites in Antarctica and Sweden.

Use Cases

• Study electron loss processes from the radiation belts based on balloon-measured bremsstrahlung X-rays.
• Characterize the spatial scale of relativistic electron precipitation based on the multi-balloon array data.
• Correlate precipitation events with in-situ plasma wave and particle measurements from the Van Allen Probes.
• Analyze ultra-low frequency magnetic field variations based on the DC magnetometer data mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Data spans four dedicated campaigns from 2013 to 2016, providing multi-year coverage.
• Over 50 stratospheric balloon flights were launched, constituting an evolving observational array.
• Measurements were coordinated with the comprehensive Van Allen Probes mission and other ground-based instruments.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The rate count data have uncalibrated energy ranges and wrap near or above 16384 counts/s.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measurements from rate counters on small stratospheric balloons launched successively during campaigns.

Time Range

2013 to 2016

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 14:20:13.018741; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Balloon launches from Halley Bay and SANAE IV in Antarctica (2013-2014) and Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden (2015-2016).