BARREL 3E Ephemeris: Balloon GPS and Magnetic Coordinates

Over 50 stratospheric balloons were launched across four campaigns from 2013 to 2016. The dataset provides geographic and magnetic coordinates, recorded every 4 seconds, from balloons studying electron precipitation from Earth's radiation belts. Geographic coordinates were obtained from onboard GPS, while magnetic coordinates were derived using the IRBEM library.

Use Cases

• Mapping balloon trajectories based on GPS-derived latitude, longitude, and altitude
• Analyzing electron precipitation events based on magnetic coordinate data
• Studying spatial scales of relativistic electron precipitation using the balloon array data
• Correlating balloon measurements with Van Allen Probes and ground-based instrument data

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 balloon launches across four campaigns
• Coordinates recorded at a high temporal resolution of 4 seconds
• Campaigns coordinated with the Van Allen Probes mission and other ground/space instruments

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

Coordinates obtained from onboard GPS units on balloons; magnetic coordinates derived using the IRBEM FORTRAN library.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:34:21.255927; freshness should be verified

Geography

Balloons launched from Halley Bay and SANAE IV bases in Antarctica (2013-2014) and Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden (2015-2016).