BARREL 2L: Tri-axial Magnetometer Data for Radiation Belt Studies

Over 50 stratospheric balloon flights collected tri-axial magnetic field measurements at 0.25-second resolution. The BARREL mission, a NASA Living with a Star project, launched balloons from Antarctica and Sweden between 2013 and 2016 to study electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts. This Level 2 dataset provides three-axis DC magnetometer data with nominal conversions applied but without gain correction or despinning.

Use Cases

• Analyzing ULF-timescale magnetic field variations based on tri-axial fluxgate magnetometer measurements.
• Correlating balloon-based magnetic field data with satellite and ground-based observations of radiation belt activity.
• Characterizing the spatial scale of relativistic electron precipitation events based on multi-balloon campaign data.
• Studying magnetospheric processes by using balloon constellation data mapped to radiation belt regions.

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 balloon flights across four campaigns (2013-2016).
• High-resolution 0.25-second time-series measurements of the magnetic field.
• Coordinated observations with the Van Allen Probes mission and other ground/space instruments.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data are not gain-corrected or despun, which may require additional processing for some analyses.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measurements from tri-axial DC magnetometers carried on approximately 20 kg stratospheric balloons.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 13:11:24.135149; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Balloon launches from Halley Bay and SANAE IV in Antarctica (2013-2014) and Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden (2015-2016).