BARREL 2L Ephemeris: Balloon Coordinates for Radiation Belt Studies

BARREL 2L Ephemeris data provides geographic and magnetic coordinates for stratospheric balloons launched during the BARREL mission. The dataset likely contains balloon epoch time, latitude, longitude, and altitude recorded every 4 seconds, derived from GPS and the IRBEM library. Over 50 balloons were launched across four campaigns from Antarctica and Sweden between 2013 and 2016 to study electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial and temporal variations of electron precipitation based on balloon location data.
• Studying the spatial scale of relativistic electron precipitation based on multi-balloon constellation data.
• Correlating balloon-based X-ray spectrometer measurements with satellite data based on synchronized time and location records.
• Deriving magnetic field variations for ULF-timescale studies based on magnetic coordinate data.
• Mapping balloon trajectories to magnetic local time sectors based on geographic and derived magnetic coordinates.

Strengths

• Coordinates are recorded at a high temporal resolution of 4 seconds.
• Data is derived from multiple sources: onboard GPS for geographic coordinates and the IRBEM library for magnetic coordinates.
• Campaigns involved over 50 balloon launches, providing a substantial observational array.
• Data collection was coordinated with other missions like Van Allen Probes and ground-based instruments like EISCAT.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to launches from specific Antarctic and Swedish stations.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

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

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:48:01.215948; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Launch stations in Antarctica (Halley Bay, SANAE IV) and Sweden (Esrange Space Center, Kiruna); balloons flew at stratospheric altitudes (~30 km) near polar circles.