BARREL 1M: Tri-axial Magnetometer Data from Stratospheric Balloons

BARREL 1M provides tri-axial fluxgate magnetometer data from NASA's BARREL mission, which launched over 50 stratospheric balloons between 2013 and 2016. The Level 2 data includes three-axis DC magnetic field measurements at 0.25-second resolution, without gain correction or despinning. Observations were collected near the Antarctic and Arctic circles at altitudes of about 30 km to study electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts.

Use Cases

• Analyzing ULF-timescale magnetic field variations based on three-axis DC magnetometer measurements.
• Studying spatial and temporal variations of electron precipitation based on coordinated balloon constellation data.
• Characterizing the spatial scale of precipitation at relativistic energies based on balloon-borne measurements.
• Correlating magnetic field data with X-ray spectrometer measurements from the same payloads.
• Coordinating analysis with Van Allen Probes and ground-based instruments based on multi-instrument campaign data.

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 stratospheric balloon launches across four campaigns.
• Provides 0.25-second resolution magnetic field measurements.
• Campaigns were coordinated with multiple satellite missions and ground-based instruments.

Limitations

• Data are neither gain corrected nor despun, requiring additional processing for certain analyses.
• 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 DC magnetometers carried on stratospheric balloons.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 04:18:17.296126; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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