Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Last major update issued on December 27, 2011 at 06:10 UTC.

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

[POES auroral activity level since October 2009 - updated December 27, 2011]
Annotated geomagnetic activity charts - Carrington rotation 2116 [October-November 2011] - 2117 [November-December 2011] NEW
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated June 27, 2011]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was inactive on December 26. Solar wind speed ranged between 271 and 404 km/s.

Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 145.6 (increasing 5.0 over the last solar rotation). The planetary A index was 0 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 0.5). Three hour interval K indices: 00000000 (planetary), 00101220 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B8 level.

At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 13 spotted regions (in 2K resolution SDO images).

Region 11380 [S19W43] developed further and has a moderately strong magnetic delta structure in the leading penumbra. Further M class flares are likely and there's a chance of a small X class flare. Note that SWPC has this as region 11387. Flares: M1.5/1N at 02:27, C2.8 at 09:48, M2.3 at 20:30 UTC.
Region 11382 [S17W79] was quiet and stable.
Region 11383 [N05W26] was quiet and stable.
Region 11384 [N14W16] displayed no major changes.
Region 11385 [S30W38] was quiet and stable.
Region 11386 [S15E32] developed slowly and was quiet. C flares are possible. Note that SWPC includes regions S1392 and S1395 in this region.

Spotted regions not reported (or interpreted differently) by NOAA/SWPC:
[S1392] rotated into view at the southeast limb on December 23. Location at midnight: S17E36
[S1393] emerged in the northeast quadrant on December 24. Location at midnight: N23E41
[S1394] emerged in the northeast quadrant on December 24. Location at midnight: N27W07
[S1395] emerged in the southeast quadrant on December 25. Location at midnight: S18E42
[S1396] rotated into view at the southeast limb on December 26. Location at midnight: S23E80
[S1397] emerged in the southwest quadrant on December 26. Location at midnight: S19W65
[S1398] emerged in the northeast quadrant on December 26. Location at midnight: N09E70

A filament eruption to the northeast of region 11384 was associated with a C5.7 long duration event peaking at 11:50 UTC. A CME was observed in association with this event.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

December 24: No obviously Earth directed CMEs observed.
December 25: A partial halo CME was observed early in the day in LASCO images in association with a filament eruption in the central northern hemisphere. There's a 20-30% chance of a flank impact from this CME sometime on December 28. A CME was observed in STEREO images after the M4 event in region 11380. This CME could reach Earth sometime between late on December 27 and late on December 28 and cause unsettled to major storm conditions.
December 26: At least a partial halo CME was observed after a filament eruption across the central meridian near region 11384. This CME could reach Earth on December 29.

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

An extension (CH490) of the southern polar coronal hole could rotate into an Earth facing position on December 26-29.

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 December 27. Quiet to major storm conditions are possible on December 28-29 due to CME effects. A high speed stream from CH490 could cause some unsettled and active intervals on December 29 - January 1.

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 magnetic polarity overlay
Comment
SWPC STAR SDO SWPC STAR Current Previous
11381 2011.12.16
2011.12.18
1   S18W80 0120 HSX       plage

location: S18W84

SWPC has a data consistency problem with regions 11381/11382

11380 2011.12.16
2011.12.17
3 26 S21W53 0010 BXO DAC beta-gamma-delta

location: S19W43

area: 0350

SWPC lost track of this region and assigned a new number 11387

11382 2011.12.17
2011.12.18
  1 S21W74 0210   HSX

location: S17W79

SWPC thinks this is region 11381

11383 2011.12.18
2011.12.19
2 2 N04W26 0010 BXO AXX location: N05W26
S1380 2011.12.18     N27W55           plage
11384 2011.12.19
2011.12.20
10 14 N13W14 0330 DHI EHO area: 0460

location: N14W16

S1385 2011.12.20     S03W56           plage
S1386 2011.12.20     N20W32           plage
S1387 2011.12.20     N12W55           plage
S1388 2011.12.21     S15W39           plage
11385 2011.12.21
2011.12.23
2 4 S34W41 0010 BXO BXO location: S30W38
11386 2011.12.22
2011.12.23
18 9 S17E37 0200 ESI DSI area: 0100

location: S15E32

SWPC includes regions S1392, S1395

S1392 2011.12.23   4 S17E36 0120   CAO  
S1393 2011.12.24   1 N23E41 0000   AXX  
S1394 2011.12.24   1 N27W07 0000   AXX  
S1395 2011.12.25   4 S18E42 0010   BXO  
11387 2011.12.25 17   S22W42 0130 DAI       see region 11380
S1396 2011.12.26   1 S23E80 0090   HSX    
S1397 2011.12.26   1 S19W65 0005   AXX    
S1398 2011.12.26   3 N09E70 0000   AXX    
Total spot count: 53 71  
Sunspot number: 123 201  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted penumbral SN: 78 106  (Sum of total spot count + classification weighting for each AR. Classification weighting: X=0, R=3, A/S=5, H/K=10)
Relative sunspot number (Wolf number): 74 90  k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC. k = 0.45 (changed from 0.33 on Nov.1) 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
2010.10 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 33.4 (+2.4) 5.41 / 6.44
2011.03 115.0 56.2 36.9 (+3.5) 7.79 / 8.18
2011.04 112.6 54.4 41.8 (+4.9) 9.71 / 8.83
2011.05 95.8 41.6 47.6 (+5.8) 9.18 / 8.94
2011.06 95.8 37.0 (53.7 projected, +6.1) 8.96 / 8.06
2011.07 94.2 43.9 (60.0 projected, +6.3) 9.14 / 8.16
2011.08 101.7 50.6 (65.5 projected, +5.5) 8.16 / 7.26
2011.09 133.8 78.0 (68.8 projected, +3.3) 12.80 / 12.27
2011.10 137.3 88.0 (72.3 projected, +3.5) 7.52
2011.11  153.5 96.7 (76.6 projected, +4.3) 4.58
2011.12 141.3 (1) 88.7 (2A) / 105.8 (2B) (82.1 projected, +5.5) (3.19)

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.