BARREL 2A: Tri-axial Magnetometer Data from Stratospheric Balloon Campaigns

BARREL 2A Tri-axial Fluxgate Magnetometer data provides three-axis DC magnetic field measurements from stratospheric balloons. The data are not gain-corrected or despun and were collected at 0.25-second resolution as part of NASA's BARREL mission, which launched over 50 balloons from Antarctica and Sweden between 2013 and 2016. The mission was designed to study electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts in coordination with the Van Allen Probes satellite mission.

Use Cases

• Analyzing ULF-timescale magnetic field variations based on the tri-axial DC magnetometer measurements.
• Studying spatial and temporal scales of relativistic electron precipitation based on the balloon array data collected across magnetic local time.
• Correlating balloon-based magnetic field data with in-situ satellite measurements from the Van Allen Probes mission.
• Characterizing the spatial scale of precipitation at relativistic energies based on the mission's stated scientific objective.

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 stratospheric balloon flights across four campaigns (2013-2016).
• High temporal resolution of 0.25 seconds for magnetic field measurements.
• Mission was coordinated with the Van Allen Probes satellite and other ground-based instruments, providing context for multi-instrument studies.

Limitations

• Data are neither gain-corrected nor despun, which may require additional processing for some 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

Measurements from tri-axial fluxgate magnetometers carried on stratospheric balloons.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13:38:57.577635; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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