BARREL: Balloon Measurements of Electron Precipitation from Radiation Belts

BARREL balloon campaigns collected measurements from Antarctica and Sweden between 2013 and 2016. The data consists of 4-second accumulations of rate counts from NaI scintillator diagnostics, designed to study electron losses from Earth's Radiation Belts. The mission was a NASA Living with a Star Mission of Opportunity, coordinating with the Van Allen Probes and other instruments.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temporal variations in electron precipitation based on 4-second rate count accumulations.
• Studying spatial scales of precipitation at relativistic energies using balloon constellation data.
• Correlating balloon-based X-ray measurements with in-situ plasma wave and particle data from other missions.

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 stratospheric balloon launches across four campaigns.
• Measurements coordinated with comprehensive in-situ measurements from the Van Allen Probes mission.
• Observations from two distinct geographic regions: Antarctica and Sweden.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• 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 stratospheric balloons carrying X-ray spectrometers and DC magnetometers.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 04:18:51.253282; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Antarctica (Halley Bay, SANAE IV) and Sweden (Kiruna).