BARREL 2L: Bremsstrahlung X-ray Spectra from Antarctic and Arctic Balloon Campaigns

Antarctic and Arctic balloon campaigns collected fast time resolution Bremsstrahlung X-ray spectra to study electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts. The dataset contains six channels of 50 ms data from the BARREL mission, a NASA Living with a Star Mission of Opportunity. Campaigns occurred in 2013, 2014 from Antarctic bases and in 2015, 2016 from Kiruna, Sweden, with over 50 stratospheric balloon launches.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal variations in electron precipitation based on 50 ms time resolution X-ray spectra.
• Characterize spatial scales of relativistic electron precipitation based on balloon array measurements across magnetic local time.
• Correlate balloon X-ray measurements with in-situ plasma wave and particle data from satellite missions.
• Study the relationship between ULF-timescale magnetic field variations and X-ray spectra using co-located magnetometer data.

Strengths

• Provides six channels of fast time resolution (50 ms) data for detailed temporal analysis.
• Data collected from over 50 stratospheric balloon launches across four campaigns.
• Campaigns were coordinated with the Van Allen Probes mission and other ground/space instruments for multi-instrument studies.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data files are in BIN, PDF, TEXT, HTML formats, requiring specialized tools for processing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measured by X-ray spectrometers and DC magnetometers carried on stratospheric balloons.

Time Range

Campaigns conducted in January-February 2013, 2014, and August 2015, 2016.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:48:18.307672; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Launches from Halley Bay and SANAE IV bases in Antarctica, and Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden.