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

BARREL 2P Tri-axial Fluxgate Magnetometer data provides three-axis DC magnetic field measurements at 0.25-second resolution, without gain correction or despinning. The dataset was collected by NASA's BARREL mission, which launched over 50 stratospheric balloons from Antarctica and Sweden between 2013 and 2016. It was designed to study electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts in coordination with the Van Allen Probes mission.

Use Cases

• Analyzing ULF-timescale magnetic field variations based on three-axis DC magnetometer measurements.
• Characterizing the spatial scale of relativistic electron precipitation based on balloon array observations.
• Correlating magnetic field data with X-ray spectrometer measurements of bremsstrahlung X-rays.
• Studying electron losses from Earth's Radiation Belts based on coordinated balloon and satellite campaigns.

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 balloon launches across four campaigns from 2013 to 2016.
• Measurements taken at stratospheric altitudes (~30 km) near Antarctic and Arctic circles.
• Coordinated with comprehensive in-situ measurements from the Van Allen Probes and other missions.

Limitations

• Data are neither gain corrected nor despun, which may require additional processing for analysis.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected by DC magnetometers on stratospheric balloons launched from Antarctica and Sweden.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:42:44.501588; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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