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

Antarctic and Arctic stratospheric balloon campaigns from 2013 to 2016 collected this data. The BARREL mission, a NASA Living with a Star project, launched over 50 balloons to study electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts. Geographic coordinates were obtained from onboard GPS, and magnetic coordinates were derived using the IRBEM library.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial and temporal variations of electron precipitation based on balloon location data
• Mapping magnetic field variations at ULF-timescales based on derived magnetic coordinates
• Characterizing the spatial scale of relativistic electron precipitation based on multi-balloon constellation data
• Correlating balloon measurements with in-situ plasma wave and particle data from the Van Allen Probes

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 stratospheric balloons across four campaigns
• Coordinates are recorded at a high temporal resolution of once every 4 seconds
• Geographic coordinates are sourced directly from onboard GPS units

Limitations

• 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

Data returned from balloon payloads and processed using the IRBEM FORTRAN library.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:53:35.785870; freshness should be verified

Geography

Balloon launches from Halley Bay and SANAE IV in Antarctica, and Kiruna, Sweden.