Last major update issued on April 18, 2011 at 07:45 UTC.
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Annotated geomagnetic activity charts - Carrington rotation
2106 [Jan.-Feb.2011]
- 2107 [Feb.-March
2011]
The geomagnetic field was quiet on April 17. Solar wind speed ranged between 310 and 323 km/s. A solar wind shock was observed at ACE near 06h UTC on April 18, likely the arrival of the CME observed on April 15.
Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 114.4 (increasing 13.4 over the last solar rotation). The planetary A index was 5 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 4.8). Three hour interval K indices: 01112222 (planetary), 11112211 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class B4 level.
At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 7 spotted regions.
Region 11190 decayed further and was mostly quiet. M class flare activity is
still possible.
Region 11191 was mostly unchanged and quiet.
Region 11193 added some spots in an area just ahead of the trailing
penumbra. A minor M class flare is possible.
Spotted regions not numbered by NOAA/SWPC:
[S950] reemerged on April 15. Location at midnight: S16E07
[S956] rotated into view at the northeast limb late on April 17. Location at midnight:
N20E81
April 16-17: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO
and STEREO imagery.
April 15: A slow moving CME was observed early in the day following a
filament eruption in the southeast quadrant late on April 14. This CME could
reach Earth on April 18 or 19.
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
An extension (CH445) of the southern polar coronal hole was Earth facing on April 16-17 but is likely too far to the south to cause a disturbance.
The darkest areas on the solar disk are likely coronal holes.
Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over high and upper middle latitudes is fair. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to active on April 18 due to CME effects. On April 19-20 a high speed coronal hole stream could reach Earth and cause some unsettled and active intervals.
| 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.
(Click on image for higher resolution image) Compare to the previous day's image
When available the active region map has a coronal hole polarity overlay where red (pink) is negative and blue (blue-green) is positive.
Data for all numbered solar regions according to the Solar Region Summary provided by NOAA/SWPC. 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 SWPC or where SWPC has observed no spots. SWPC active region numbers in the table below and in the active region map above are the historic SWPC/USAF numbers.
| Active region | Date numbered detected |
Spot count | Location at midnight | Area | Classification | SDO / HMI 4K continuum image with polarity overlay |
Comment | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWPC | STAR SDO | SWPC | STAR | Current | Previous | |||||
| 11187 | 2011.04.06 2011.04.07 |
S22W71 | plage | |||||||
| 11190 | 2011.04.08 2011.04.11 |
11 | 30 | N14W53 | 0310 | DKO | DKI |
 |
 |
beta-gamma-delta location: N12W53 |
| 11191 | 2011.04.11 2011.04.12 |
5 | 19 | N08E07 | 0070 | CSO | CSI |
 |
 |
beta-gamma |
| 11192 | 2011.04.12 | N10W72 |
 |
plage | ||||||
| 11193 | 2011.04.12 2011.04.13 |
21 | 46 | N16E19 | 0430 | EAI | ESI |
 |
 |
|
| S950 | 2011.04.13 | 4 | S16E07 | 0000 | BXO |
 |
 |
|||
| S951 | 2011.04.13 | N28W09 |
 |
plage | ||||||
| S952 | 2011.04.14 | S19W39 | plage | |||||||
| S953 | 2011.04.14 | N21W13 | plage | |||||||
| S955 | 2011.04.16 | S37W55 |
 |
plage | ||||||
| S956 | 2011.04.17 | 2 | N20E81 | 0000 | AXX |
 |
||||
| S957 | 2011.04.17 | 1 | N08W07 | 0000 | AXX |
 |
||||
| S958 | 2011.04.17 | 1 | N06W33 | 0000 | AXX |
 |
||||
| Total spot count: | 37 | 103 | ||||||||
| Sunspot number: | 67 | 173 | ||||||||
| Month | Average measured solar flux | International sunspot number (SIDC) | Smoothed sunspot number | Average ap (3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008.07 | 65.7 (SF minimum) | 0.5 | 2.8 (-0.4) | |
| 2008.12 | 69.2 | 0.8 | 1.7 (-) sunspot minimum |
3.25 |
| 2010.02 | 84.7 | 18.8 | 10.6 (+1.3) | 4.15 / 4.61 |
| 2010.03 | 83.4 | 15.4 | 12.3 (+1.7) | 4.58 / 4.65 |
| 2010.04 | 75.9 | 8.0 | 14.0 (+1.7) | 10.22 / 10.24 |
| 2010.05 | 73.8 | 8.7 | 15.5 (+1.5) | 9.18 / 8.15 |
| 2010.06 | 72.5 | 13.6 | 16.4 (+0.9) | 8.17 / 6.85 |
| 2010.07 | 79.8 | 16.1 | 16.7 (+0.3) | 6.31 / 5.15 |
| 2010.08 | 79.2 | 19.6 | 17.4 (+0.7) | 8.49 / 7.77 |
| 2010.09 | 81.1 | 25.2 | 19.6 (+2.2) | 5.33 / 5.45 |
| 2010.10 | 81.6 | 23.5 | (22.6 predicted, +3.0) | 6.07 / 6.27 |
| 2010.11 | 82.5 | 21.5 | (25.7 predicted, +3.1) | 4.80 / 5.50 |
| 2010.12 | 84.2 | 14.4 | (28.9 predicted, +3.2) | 3.41 / 4.35 |
| 2011.01 | 83.6 | 19.1 | (31.9 predicted, +3.0) | 4.32 / 5.51 |
| 2011.02 | 94.6 | 29.4 | (34.4 predicted, +2.5) | 5.41 / 6.44 |
| 2011.03 | 115.0 | 56.2 | (36.7 predicted, +2.3) | 7.79 |
| 2011.04 | 112.7 (1) | 49.1 (2A) / 86.6 (2B) | (39.6 predicted, +2.9) | (10.98) |
1) Running average based on the daily 20:00 UTC observed solar flux value at
2800 MHz.
2A) Current impact on the monthly sunspot number based on the Boulder
(NOAA/SWPC) sunspot number (accumulated daily sunspots / month days). The
official SIDC international sunspot number is typically 30-50% lower. 2B) Month
average to date.
3) Running average based on the preliminary daily SWPC ap indices.
Values in red are based on the official NGDC
ap indices.
This report has been prepared by Jan Alvestad. It is based on analysis of data from whatever sources are available at the time the report is prepared. All time references are to the UTC day. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
SDO images are courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
