BARREL 1S Ephemeris: Balloon GPS and Magnetic Coordinates at 4-Second Intervals

Over 50 stratospheric balloons were launched across four campaigns from 2013 to 2016. The BARREL mission collected 4-second interval ephemeris data, including geographic coordinates from onboard GPS and derived magnetic coordinates, to study electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts. Data was collected by NASA from Antarctic and Arctic launch sites at stratospheric altitudes near 30 km.

Use Cases

• Modeling radiation belt electron losses based on balloon-measured precipitation data.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal variations in electron precipitation based on multi-balloon array data.
• Correlating balloon-based X-ray spectrometer measurements with in-situ satellite plasma wave data.
• Characterizing the spatial scale of relativistic energy precipitation based on balloon constellation observations.

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 balloon flights across four campaigns, providing multiple observational windows.
• Coordinates are recorded at a high 4-second temporal resolution, allowing for detailed trajectory analysis.
• Data is explicitly coordinated with the Van Allen Probes mission and other ground-based instruments like EISCAT radar.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale statistical modeling.
• File formats include BIN and PDF, which may require specialized tools for parsing and analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Coordinates obtained from onboard GPS units on balloons; magnetic coordinates derived using the IRBEM FORTRAN library.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 13:55:22.210590; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Balloons launched from Halley Bay and SANAE IV in Antarctica, and Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden.