BARREL 2Q Ephemeris: Balloon GPS and Magnetic Coordinates

Antarctic and Arctic stratospheric balloon data from the BARREL mission, which launched over 50 payloads between 2013 and 2016. Geographic and magnetic coordinates were recorded every 4 seconds using onboard GPS and derived via the IRBEM library. The mission was a NASA Living with a Star project designed to study electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial and temporal variations of electron precipitation based on balloon-derived magnetic coordinates
• Mapping relativistic electron precipitation scales based on stratospheric X-ray spectrometer measurements
• Correlating balloon magnetic field measurements with in-situ plasma wave data from satellite missions
• Studying the evolution of precipitation events based on the slowly moving balloon array across magnetic local time

Strengths

• Data collected at stratospheric altitudes (~30 km) near Antarctic and Arctic circles
• Ephemeris records (time, latitude, longitude, altitude) returned every 4 seconds
• Over 50 balloon payloads launched across four campaigns from 2013 to 2016

Limitations

• 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 returned from balloon payloads, with geographic coordinates from onboard GPS and magnetic coordinates derived using the IRBEM FORTRAN library.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:42:07.690210; freshness should be verified

Geography

Launch stations in Antarctica (Halley Bay, SANAE IV) and Kiruna, Sweden; observations near Antarctic and Arctic circles.