Last major update issued on March 17, 2006 at 05:40 UTC.
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(last update March 2, 2006)]
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[Historical solar and
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[Archived reports (last update
March 2, 2006)]
The geomagnetic field was quiet on March 16. Solar wind speed ranged between 403 and 468 (all day average 436) km/sec, gradually decreasing all day.
Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 72.4. The planetary A index
was 6 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap
indices: 6.3).
Three hour interval K indices: 12221212 (planetary), 12332111 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class A1 level.
At midnight there were 3 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 10860 was quiet and stable.
Region 10861 was mostly quiet and stable.
Spotted regions not numbered by NOAA/SEC:
[S632] This region emerged in the northeast quadrant on March 16 with
a single small spot. Location at midnight: N08E18
March 14-16: No partly or fully Earth directed CMEs were observed in limited LASCO imagery.
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 (CH216) will likely rotate to an Earth facing position on March 16-17.
Processed SOHO/EIT 284 image at 01:20 UTC on February 28. The darkest areas on the solar disk are likely coronal holes.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on March 17-18 and quiet to active on March 19-20 due to coronal hole effects.
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 poor. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor. Trans Atlantic propagation conditions are normally monitored every night on 1470 kHz. Dominant station tonight: WLAM Lewiston ME with a weak signal. Only the most usual east coast North American stations were audible.
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
10858 | 2006.03.12 | N18W40 | plage | ||||
10860 | 2006.03.14 | 1 | 2 | S04E22 | 0010 | AXX | classification was HSX at midnight |
10861 | 2006.03.15 | 1 | 2 | S11E33 | 0010 | AXX | |
S632 | 2006.03.16 | 1 | N08E18 | 0000 | AXX | ||
Total spot count: | 2 | 5 | |||||
SSN: | 22 | 35 |
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) |
2005.01 | 102.2 | 31.3 | 34.6 (-0.6) |
2005.02 | 97.2 | 29.2 | 33.9 (-0.7) |
2005.03 | 89.9 | 24.5 | 33.5 (-0.4) |
2005.04 | 86.0 | 24.2 | 31.6 (-1.9) |
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 | (25.6 predicted, -1.8) |
2005.10 | 77.0 | 8.5 | (23.8 predicted, -1.8) |
2005.11 | 86.3 | 18.0 | (21.4 predicted, -2.4) |
2005.12 | 90.7 | 41.2 | (18.5 predicted, -2.9) |
2006.01 | 83.4 | 15.4 | (15.4 predicted, -3.1) |
2006.02 | 76.5 | 4.7 | (12.3 predicted, -3.1) |
2006.03 | 73.9 (1) | 8.1 (2) | (10.1 predicted, -2.2) |
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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