Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Last major update issued on March 17, 2005 at 05:15 UTC.

[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated daily)]
[Solar wind and electron fluence charts (updated daily)]
[Solar cycles 21-23 (last update March 3, 2005)]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22 and 23 (last update March 3, 2005)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 2, 10, 13, 17, 20 and 23 (last update March 3, 2005)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2004 (last update February 1, 2005)]
[Archived reports (last update March 16, 2005)]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on March 16. Solar wind speed ranged between 349 and 459 km/sec. A low speed stream from CH152 arrived near 11h UTC.

Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 104.6. The planetary A index was 6 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 5.9).
Three hour interval K indices: 00113222 (planetary), 11123213 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B1 level.

At midnight there were 2 spotted regions on the visible solar disk. The solar flare activity level was very low. No C class events were recorded during the day.

Region 10742 decayed further, particularly in the trailing spot section, and was quiet.
Region 10743 was quiet and stable.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

March 14-15: No obvious fully or partly Earth directed CMEs were observed. No images available for March 16.

Coronal holes

Coronal hole history (since late October 2002)
Compare today's report with the situation one solar rotation ago: 28 days ago 27 days ago 26 days ago

A recurrent coronal hole (CH152) in the northern hemisphere was in a geoeffective position on March 13-14. This coronal hole appears to have decayed somewhat over the last rotation.

Processed SOHO/EIT 284 image at 13:06 UTC on March 11. The darkest areas on the solar disk are likely coronal holes.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to active on March 17-18 due to effects from CH152. Quiet to unsettled is likely on March 19-20.

Coronal holes (1)	Coronal mass ejections (2)	M and X class flares (3)

1) Effects from a coronal hole could reach Earth within the next 5 days. When the high speed stream has arrived the color changes to green.
2) Material from a CME is likely to impact Earth within 96 hours.
3) There is a possibility of either M or X class flares within the next 48 hours.

Green: 0-20% probability, Yellow: 20-60% probability, Red: 60-100% probability.

Propagation

Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along east-west paths over high and upper middle latitudes is poor. Propagation along long distance north-south paths is poor. Trans Atlantic propagation conditions are normally monitored every night on 1470 kHz. Dominant station tonight: Radio Vibración (Venezuela) with a poor signal. Stations from Venezuela were heard on several other frequencies as well. Only a few signals from North America were noted, VOCM 590 and CJYQ 930 were both weak while WWZN on 1510 was very weak. The best trans Atlantic signal was that of WDHP on 1620 kHz.

Active solar regions (Recent map)

Compare to the previous day's image.

Data for all numbered solar regions according to the Solar Region Summary provided by NOAA/SEC. Comments are my own, as is the STAR spot count (spots observed at or inside a few hours before midnight) and data for regions not numbered by SEC or where SEC has observed no spots. SEC active region numbers in the table below and in the active region map above are the historic SEC/USAF numbers.

Monthly solar cycle data

1) Running average based on the daily 20:00 UTC observed solar flux value at 2800 MHz.
2) Unofficial, accumulated value based on the Boulder (NOAA/SEC) sunspot number. The official international sunspot number is typically 30-50% less.

This report has been prepared by Jan Alvestad. It is based partly on my own observations and analysis, and partly on data from some of these solar data sources. All time references are to the UTC day. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.