BARREL 2K Rate Counter: NaI Scintillator Diagnostics, 4 s Data

Antarctic and Arctic stratospheric balloon campaigns collected diagnostic rate counter measurements of electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts. The BARREL mission, a NASA Living with a Star project, launched over 50 balloons from Halley Bay, SANAE IV, and Kiruna between 2013 and 2016. Data consists of 4-second accumulations of uncalibrated counts from NaI scintillator detectors.

Use Cases

• Analyzing relativistic electron precipitation rates based on 4-second count accumulations
• Characterizing spatial scales of precipitation events based on balloon constellation measurements
• Correlating precipitation with in-situ plasma wave and particle data from the Van Allen Probes
• Studying ULF-timescale magnetic field variations based on co-located DC magnetometer data
• Investigating bremsstrahlung X-ray production based on spectrometer measurements

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 stratospheric balloon flights across four campaigns
• Coordinated with comprehensive in-situ measurements from the Van Allen Probes mission
• Provides first balloon measurements of relativistic electron precipitation with simultaneous wave and particle data

Limitations

• Rate count values are uncalibrated and wrap near or above 16384 counts/s
• 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 rate counters on BARREL balloon payloads

Time Range

Campaigns conducted in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:50:00.057971; freshness should be verified

Geography

Balloon launches from Halley Bay (Antarctica), SANAE IV (Antarctica), and Esrange Space Center (Kiruna, Sweden)