BARREL 2B Ephemeris: Balloon GPS and Magnetic Coordinates at 4-Second Intervals

Antarctic and Arctic stratospheric balloon data from the BARREL mission, measuring electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts. The dataset contains over 50 balloon flights launched between 2013 and 2016, providing geographic and magnetic coordinates recorded every 4 seconds. It was produced by NASA as part of the Living with a Star program to augment the Van Allen Probes mission.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial and temporal variations in electron precipitation based on the balloon array measurements across magnetic local time.
• Correlating balloon-based X-ray spectrometer and magnetometer readings with in-situ satellite data from the Van Allen Probes.
• Characterizing the spatial scale of relativistic electron precipitation events based on the multi-balloon constellation data.
• Modeling magnetic field variations using derived magnetic coordinates calculated with the IRBEM library.

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 stratospheric balloon flights across four campaigns (2013-2016).
• Coordinates are recorded at a high temporal resolution of once every 4 seconds.
• Geographic coordinates are sourced from onboard GPS, and magnetic coordinates are derived using the established IRBEM library.

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 PDF, HTML, TEXT, and BIN, which may require specialized tools for processing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data returned from balloon payloads carrying GPS units and derived using the IRBEM FORTRAN library.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 04:36:54.940727; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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