BARREL: Balloon Measurements of Electron Precipitation

Four balloon campaigns conducted from 2013 to 2016 collected rate counter diagnostics from stratospheric balloons launched from Antarctica and Sweden. The BARREL mission, a NASA Living with a Star project, measured bremsstrahlung X-rays from precipitating relativistic electrons to study losses from Earth's Radiation Belts. Over 50 stratospheric balloons were launched, providing data coordinated with the Van Allen Probes mission and other instruments.

Use Cases

• Analyze electron precipitation rates based on 4-second accumulations of rate counter data.
• Study spatial and temporal variations of relativistic electron precipitation based on balloon constellation measurements.
• Characterize the spatial scale of precipitation at relativistic energies based on the mission's diagnostic fields.
• Correlate balloon-based X-ray measurements with in-situ plasma wave and particle data from the Van Allen Probes.

Strengths

• Data collected over four campaigns spanning from 2013 to 2016.
• Over 50 stratospheric balloons were launched, providing multiple measurement points.
• Coordinated measurements with the Van Allen Probes mission and other ground/space-based instruments.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measurements from rate counters on stratospheric balloons.

Time Range

2013 to 2016

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:37:35.102087; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Antarctica (Halley Bay, SANAE IV) and Kiruna, Sweden.