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

Four campaigns from 2013 to 2016 collected data from over 50 stratospheric balloons launched from Antarctica and Sweden. The dataset provides geographic and magnetic coordinates, including balloon epoch time, latitude, longitude, and altitude, returned every 4 seconds. It was produced by NASA's BARREL mission to study electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts.

Use Cases

• Analyzing relativistic electron precipitation patterns based on X-ray spectrometer and magnetometer data mentioned in the description
• Studying spatial and temporal variations in the radiation belts based on the multi-balloon array design
• Correlating balloon-based measurements with satellite data like the Van Allen Probes based on the mission's coordination
• Characterizing the spatial scale of electron precipitation at relativistic energies based on the stated scientific objective

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 balloon flights across four campaigns, providing multiple observation points
• Coordinates are derived from onboard GPS and the IRBEM library, suggesting a multi-source methodology
• Campaigns were coordinated with the Van Allen Probes mission and other ground/space instruments, enabling data fusion

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• File formats include BIN and PDF, which may require specialized tools for access and processing

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data returned from balloon payloads every 4 seconds, with geographic coordinates from GPS and magnetic coordinates derived using the IRBEM library.

Time Range

2013 to 2016

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13:48:47.736118; freshness should be verified

Geography

Balloon launches from Halley Bay and SANAE IV base in Antarctica (2013-2014) and Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden (2015-2016).