BARREL Mission: Balloon Measurements of Electron Precipitation

BARREL Mission data consists of rate counter measurements from NaI scintillator diagnostics, stored as 4-second accumulations. The mission was a NASA Living with a Star project, launching over 50 stratospheric balloons from Antarctica and Sweden between 2013 and 2016. It aimed to study electron losses from Earth's Radiation Belts by measuring bremsstrahlung X-rays from precipitating relativistic electrons.

Use Cases

• Analyzing electron precipitation rates based on 4-second count accumulations
• Studying spatial and temporal variations of radiation belt losses based on balloon array measurements
• Correlating precipitation events with in-situ plasma wave and particle data mentioned in the description
• Characterizing the spatial scale of relativistic electron precipitation
• Coordinating multi-instrument studies with Van Allen Probes and ground-based radar systems

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 balloon launches across four campaigns
• Measurements coordinated with comprehensive in-situ measurements of plasma waves and energetic particles
• Campaigns conducted in coordination with the Van Allen Probes mission and other ground and space-based instruments

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Rate count data are diagnostic fields with uncalibrated energy ranges and may 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 04:17:00.326852; freshness should be verified

Geography

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