Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Last major update issued on August 20, 2011 at 03:00 UTC.

[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated daily)]
[Solar wind and electron fluence charts (updated daily)
[Solar cycles 21-24 (last update August 2, 2011)]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last update August 2, 2011)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (last update August 2, 2011)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update August 2, 2011)]

[POES auroral activity level since October 2009 - updated August 19, 2011]
Annotated geomagnetic activity charts - Carrington rotation 2111 [June-July 2011]  - 2112 [July 2011] NEW
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated June 27, 2011]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on August 20. Solar wind speed ranged between 347 and 383 km/s. A weak disturbance began late in the day (solar wind density increased while there was no siginificant change in wind speed).

Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 100.5 (increasing 14.3 over the last solar rotation). The planetary A index was 5 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 5.0). Three hour interval K indices: 11002123 (planetary), 11101223 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B2 level.

At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 5 spotted regions (in 2K resolution SDO images).

Region 11271 displayed no major changes and remains capable of producing C flares. Flare: C2.9 at 22:56 UTC.
Region 11272 developed slowly and was mostly quiet.
Region 11273 was quiet and stable.
New region 11274 rotated into view at the northeast limb on August 19 and was numbered by SWPC the next day.

Spotted regions not numbered by NOAA/SWPC:
[S1176] rotated into view at the northeast limb on August 20. Location at midnight: N08E83

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

August 18-20: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO or STEREO imagery.

Coronal holes

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 trans equatorial coronal hole (CH472) was in an Earth facing position on August 19-20. A recurrent coronal hole (CH473) in the northern hemisphere could rotate into an Earth facing position on August 24-25.

The above coronal hole map is based on a new method where coronal holes are detected automatically. The method may need some fine tuning, however, it has significant advantages over detecting coronal holes manually. The main improvement is the ability to detect coronal holes at and just beyond the solar limbs. Early results using this method for SDO images over a span of several weeks indicate a good match between coronal holes observed over the visible disk and their extent and position at the east and west limbs. Note that the polar coronal holes are easily detected using the new method, the extent and intensity of both holes are consistent with other data sources.

Propagation

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.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on August 21. Quiet to unsettled conditions with occasional active intervals are likely on August 22-23 due to effects from CH472.

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.

Active solar regions

(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
11270 2011.08.10
2011.08.11
    N23W69           plage
11271 2011.08.14
2011.08.15
22 32 N16E10 0260 DHO DSI

beta-gamma

area: 0450

11272 2011.08.15
2011.08.16
5 14 S22E15 0050 CAO CSO

location: S22E17

S1170 2011.08.15     N05W41           plage
S1171 2011.08.16     N07E21           plage
11273 2011.08.16
2011.08.17
  1 S18W42 0000   AXX location: S19W42
S1173 2011.08.17     N24W01           plage
11274 2011.08.19
2011.08.20
2 3 N19E70 0030 HRX HRX formerly region S1175
S1176 2011.08.20   1 N08E83 0030   HSX    
Total spot count: 29 51  
Sunspot number: 59 101  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Classification adjusted SN: 47 68  (Sum of total spot count + classification adjustment for each AR. Classification adjustment: X=0, R=3, A/S=5, H/K=10)
Relative sunspot number (Wolf number): 35 33  k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC. k = 0.33 for STAR SDO

Monthly solar cycle data

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
2010.05 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 23.2 (+3.6) 6.07 / 6.27
2010.11 82.5 21.5 26.5 (+3.3) 4.80 / 5.50
2010.12 84.2 14.4 28.8 (+2.3) 3.41 / 4.35
2011.01 83.6 19.1 31.0 (+2.2) 4.32 / 5.51
2011.02 94.6 29.4 (33.6 predicted, +2.6) 5.41 / 6.44
2011.03 115.0 56.2 (36.6 predicted, +3.0) 7.79 / 8.18
2011.04 112.6 54.4 (39.4 predicted, +2.8) 9.71 / 8.83
2011.05 95.8 41.6 (42.7 predicted, +3.3) 9.18 / 8.94
2011.06 95.8 37.0 (46.5 predicted, +3.8) 8.96
2011.07 94.2 43.9 (50.6 predicted, +4.1) 9.14
2011.08 100.6 (1) 37.3 (2A) / 57.9 (2B) (54.8 predicted, +4.2) (9.71)

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.