BARREL 4F Ephemeris: Balloon Geographic and Magnetic Coordinates

BARREL was a NASA Living with a Star mission launching over 50 stratospheric balloons to study electron losses from Earth's radiation belts. This Level 2 dataset provides 4-second ephemeris records, including geographic coordinates from onboard GPS and derived magnetic coordinates, from campaigns in Antarctica (2013-2014) and Sweden (2015-2016). The data was collected to augment the Van Allen Probes mission by characterizing the spatial scale of relativistic electron precipitation.

Use Cases

• Modeling electron precipitation from radiation belts based on balloon-borne X-ray spectrometer and magnetometer measurements.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal variations of relativistic electron precipitation based on the slowly moving balloon array.
• Correlating stratospheric balloon observations with in-situ satellite measurements from the Van Allen Probes mission.
• Deriving magnetic field variations using the IRBEM library based on the provided geographic coordinates.

Strengths

• Data is collected at a high temporal resolution of 4 seconds.
• Coordinates are sourced from onboard GPS and derived using the established IRBEM FORTRAN library.
• Campaigns were coordinated with other ground and space-based instruments like the EISCAT radar system.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• 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 returned from balloon payloads every 4 seconds, with magnetic coordinates derived using the IRBEM library.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:32:39.538397; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Launch stations in Antarctica (Halley Bay, SANAE IV) and Sweden (Esrange Space Center, Kiruna).