BARREL 3G: Balloon Ephemeris and Magnetic Coordinates for Radiation Belt Studies

Antarctic and Arctic stratospheric balloon data from the NASA BARREL mission, designed to study electron losses from Earth's radiation belts. The dataset includes over 50 balloon launches across campaigns in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, providing geographic and magnetic coordinates recorded every 4 seconds. Measurements were taken at altitudes around 30 km to characterize relativistic electron precipitation.

Use Cases

• Modeling radiation belt electron loss processes based on balloon-measured X-ray bremsstrahlung data.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal scales of relativistic electron precipitation based on multi-balloon array observations.
• Correlating stratospheric magnetic field variations with in-situ satellite measurements from the Van Allen Probes.
• Studying magnetic local time (MLT) dependencies of precipitation events based on the balloon constellation's evolving array.

Strengths

• Data is from a dedicated NASA mission of opportunity with over 50 stratospheric balloon launches.
• Coordinates are derived from onboard GPS and the IRBEM library, providing both geographic and magnetic perspectives.
• Campaigns were coordinated with other major instruments like the Van Allen Probes and EISCAT radar.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML.
• Data files are in specialized formats (BIN, PDF, TEXT, HTML), which may require specific tools for processing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected from X-ray spectrometers and DC magnetometers on small stratospheric balloons launched from Antarctica and Sweden.

Time Range

Campaigns conducted in January-February 2013 and 2014, and August 2015 and 2016.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 12:05:14.355528; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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