BARREL 1I: Bremsstrahlung X-ray Spectra from Balloon Campaigns, 0.05 s Resolution

Antarctic and Arctic stratospheric balloon campaigns collected this data to study relativistic electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts. The BARREL mission, a NASA Living with a Star project, launched over 50 small balloons from Halley Bay, SANAE IV, and Esrange Space Center between 2013 and 2016. It provides four channels of fast time resolution (50 ms) Bremsstrahlung X-ray spectra covering an energy range from 0 MeV to 1.5 MeV.

Use Cases

• Modeling spatial scales of relativistic electron precipitation based on multi-balloon array measurements.
• Correlating X-ray spectra with in-situ plasma wave and particle data from the Van Allen Probes mission.
• Analyzing temporal variations in electron precipitation using 50 ms time resolution data from the FSPC instrument.
• Studying magnetic local time (MLT) dependencies of radiation belt losses using the balloon constellation data.

Strengths

• Provides the first balloon measurements of relativistic electron precipitation with concurrent in-situ measurements available.
• Data collected from over 50 stratospheric balloon flights across four campaigns from 2013 to 2016.
• Offers four-channel spectral data with a fast 0.05-second time resolution.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

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 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 14:14:14.990040; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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