BARREL 2M Rate Counter: 4-Second Accumulations of Electron Precipitation Diagnostics

Four balloon campaigns conducted between 2013 and 2016 from Antarctica and Sweden. This dataset contains 4-second accumulations of rate counter measurements from NaI scintillators on stratospheric balloons, part of the NASA BARREL mission to study electron losses from Earth's radiation belts. The data are diagnostic fields with uncalibrated energy ranges, designed to augment the Van Allen Probes mission.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temporal variations in electron precipitation based on 4-second rate count accumulations.
• Characterizing the spatial scale of relativistic energy precipitation based on balloon array measurements.
• Correlating balloon-based X-ray measurements with in-situ plasma wave and particle data from the Van Allen Probes.
• Studying ULF-timescale magnetic field variations using the DC magnetometer data mentioned in the mission description.

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 stratospheric balloon flights across four campaigns.
• Measurements coordinated with the Van Allen Probes mission and other ground/space-based instruments like EISCAT.
• Provides the first balloon measurements of relativistic electron precipitation alongside comprehensive in-situ data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Rate count values are uncalibrated and may wrap near or above 16384 counts/s.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measurements from rate counters on small stratospheric balloons launched successively.

Time Range

2013 to 2016

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 13:08:53.689734; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Antarctic and Arctic circles, specifically Halley Bay, SANAE IV base, and Kiruna, Sweden.