BARREL 2O Rate Counter Data for Electron Precipitation Diagnostics

Over 50 stratospheric balloons were launched across four campaigns from 2013 to 2016. This Level 2 data product consists of 4-second accumulations of diagnostic rate count measurements from NaI scintillators on BARREL balloons, designed to study electron losses from Earth's Radiation Belts. The data were collected by NASA's BARREL mission, a NASA Living with a Star Mission of Opportunity.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temporal variations of electron precipitation based on 4-second count accumulations.
• Characterizing the spatial scale of relativistic electron 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 spans four balloon campaigns from 2013 to 2016, providing multi-year coverage.
• Over 50 balloon payloads were launched, offering a substantial observational dataset.
• The mission was coordinated with the Van Allen Probes and other ground/space instruments, enabling multi-point studies.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Rate count data have uncalibrated energy ranges 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 BARREL stratospheric balloons.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:43:20.197155; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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