BARREL 4A: Balloon Ephemeris Data for Radiation Belt Electron Precipitation

Ephemeris data from the BARREL mission's stratospheric balloons, providing geographic and magnetic coordinates every 4 seconds. The NASA mission launched over 50 balloons from Antarctica and Sweden between 2013 and 2016 to study electron losses from Earth's radiation belts. Data includes GPS-derived geographic coordinates and IRBEM-derived magnetic coordinates.

Use Cases

• Correlating electron precipitation events with in-situ satellite measurements based on the coordination with the Van Allen Probes mission mentioned in the description
• Analyzing the spatial scale of relativistic electron precipitation based on the balloon array measurements described
• Studying magnetic local time (MLT) variations in precipitation based on the balloon constellation design
• Modeling magnetic field coordinates using the IRBEM library methodology referenced in the description

Strengths

• Data collected from over 50 balloon flights across four campaigns (2013-2016)
• Coordinates are recorded at a high temporal resolution of 4 seconds
• Mission was coordinated with comprehensive in-situ measurements from the Van Allen Probes

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 GPS units, magnetic coordinates derived using the IRBEM FORTRAN library

Time Range

Balloon campaigns conducted in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 12:01:57.338784; freshness should be verified

Geography

Launches from Halley Bay and SANAE IV base in Antarctica, and Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden