Last major update issued on July 27, 2006 at 03:30 UTC.
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July 9, 2006)]
The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on July 26. Solar wind speed ranged between 333 and 365 km/s (all day average 346 km/s - unchanged from the previous day) under the influence of a weak, low speed stream from CH232 early in the day.
Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 74.7. 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: 31111211 (planetary), 32121112 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class A3 level.
At midnight there was 1 spotted region on the visible solar disk. The solar flare activity level was very low. No C class events were recorded during the day.
Region 10901 decayed slowly and quietly.
July 24-26: No partly or fully Earth directed CMEs were detected in LASCO imagery.
Coronal hole history (since late October 2002)
Compare today's report to the situation one solar rotation ago:
28 days ago
27 days ago
26 days ago
A coronal hole (CH233) in the northern hemisphere has poorly defined southward extensions that were in Earth facing locations on July 23-24. A well defined recurrent trans equatorial coronal hole (CH234) will likely be in an Earth facing location on July 29-30.
Processed SOHO/EIT 284 image at 01:06 UTC on July 27. The darkest areas on the solar disk are likely coronal holes.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on July 27-28 due to weak coronal hole effects and quiet on July 29-30.
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) Effects from a CME are likely to be observed at 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.
Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along east-west paths over high and upper middle latitudes is fair to good. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor to fair. Many stations from North America were audible. 1310 kHz had 3 stations with CIWW usually on top. GY frequencies like 1230 and 1490 kHz had several stations coming and going. Excellent signals were heard from 1030 WBZ, 1130 WBBR and 1510 WWZN. Some stations from Venezuela and Colombia were heard as well on the NW EWE.
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.
Active region | Date numbered | SEC spot count |
STAR spot count |
Location at midnight | Area | Classification | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
10901 | 2006.07.22 | 10 | 4 | N06E15 | 0100 | CAO | area was 0070 at midnight |
Total spot count: | 10 | 4 | |||||
SSN: | 20 | 14 |
Month | Average solar flux at Earth |
International sunspot number | Smoothed sunspot number |
---|---|---|---|
2000.04 | 184.2 | 125.5 | 120.8 cycle 23 sunspot max. |
2000.07 | 202.3 | 170.1 | 119.8 |
2001.12 | 235.1 | 132.2 | 114.6 (-0.9) |
2005.05 | 99.3 | 42.7 | 28.9 (-2.7) |
2005.06 | 93.7 | 39.3 | 28.8 (-0.1) |
2005.07 | 96.4 | 40.1 | 29.1 (+0.3) |
2005.08 | 90.5 | 36.4 | 27.4 (-1.7) |
2005.09 | 91.1 | 21.9 | 25.8 (-1.6) |
2005.10 | 77.0 | 8.5 | 25.5 (-0.3) |
2005.11 | 86.3 | 18.0 | 24.9 (-0.6) |
2005.12 | 90.7 | 41.2 | 23.0 (-1.9) |
2006.01 | 83.4 | 15.4 | (20.7 predicted, -2.3) |
2006.02 | 76.5 | 4.7 | (18.2 predicted, -2.5) |
2006.03 | 75.4 | 10.8 | (16.4 predicted, -1.8) |
2006.04 | 89.0 | 30.2 | (15.7 predicted, -0.7) |
2006.05 | 80.9 | 22.2 | (14.9 predicted, -0.8) |
2006.06 | 76.5 | 13.9 | (12.7 predicted, -2.2) |
2006.07 | 76.1 (1) | 19.6 (2) | (11.3 predicted, -1.4) |
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% lower.
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.
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