Last major update issued on July 3, 2011 at 05:45 UTC.
[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated
daily)]
[Solar wind and electron fluence charts (updated
daily)
[Solar cycles 21-24 (last update July 2, 2011)]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last
update July 2, 2011)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and
24 (last update July 2, 2011)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006
(last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update July 2, 2011)]
[POES auroral activity level charts since October
2009 - updated July 1, 2011]
Annotated geomagnetic activity charts - Carrington rotation
2109 [April-May
2011] - 2110 [May-June
2011]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated
June 27, 2011]
The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on July 2. Solar wind speed ranged between 352 and 443 km/s.
Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 85.6 (decreasing 15.3 over the last solar rotation). 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: 00011223 (planetary), 11122212 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class B1 level.
At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 4 spotted regions.
Region 11242 decayed further and could soon become spotless.
Region 11243 didn't change significantly and was quiet.
Region 11244 developed slowly in the leading spot section. The region was
the source of a B9.5 flare at 00:24 UTC on July 3. This event was associated
with type II and IV radio sweeps and triggered a filament eruption and a CME.
Earth could be in the path of the small CME.
Spotted regions not numbered by NOAA/SWPC:
[S1095] emerged with a couple of tiny spots in an old plage area in
the northeastern quadrant on July 2. Location at midnight: N22E33
June 30 - July 2: No obviously earth directed CMEs were observed.
July 3: A small, possibly Earth directed CME was observed in STEREO
imagery after a B9 event in region 11244 early in the day.
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 small coronal hole (CH461) in the northern hemisphere was in an Earth facing position on June 30 and closed the same day. A trans equatorial coronal hole (CH462) was Earth facing on July 1-2.
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.
Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over high and upper middle latitudes is poor. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor to fair.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on July 3. Quiet to active is likely on July 4-5 due to effects from CH462. The CME observed early on July 3 could reach Earth late on July 5 and cause a few unsettled 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 | |||||
| 11242 | 2011.06.26 2011.06.28 |
5 | 6 | N18W57 | 0020 | DRO | BXO |
 |
 |
location: N16W56 area: 0000 |
| 11243 | 2011.06.27 2011.06.28 |
13 | 27 | N16E08 | 0080 | CAO | CAO |
 |
 |
location: N14E08 |
| 11244 | 2011.06.27 2011.07.01 |
6 | 10 | N15W24 | 0010 | BXO | BXO |
 |
 |
|
| S1088 | 2011.06.27 | S25W32 | plage | |||||||
| S1089 | 2011.06.28 | S23W58 | plage | |||||||
| S1090 | 2011.06.29 | N15E36 | plage | |||||||
| S1091 | 2011.06.29 | S23W22 | plage | |||||||
| S1092 | 2011.06.30 | S23W07 | plage | |||||||
| S1093 | 2011.07.01 | S05W11 |
 |
plage | ||||||
| S1094 | 2011.07.01 | S17W58 |
 |
plage | ||||||
| S1095 | 2011.07.02 | 2 | N22E33 | 0000 | AXX |
 |
||||
| Total spot count: | 24 | 45 | ||||||||
| Sunspot number: | 54 | 85 | ||||||||
| 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 |
| 2010.04 | 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 | 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 | (30.6 predicted, +1.8) | 4.32 / 5.51 |
| 2011.02 | 94.6 | 29.4 | (32.6 predicted, +2.0) | 5.41 / 6.44 |
| 2011.03 | 115.0 | 56.2 | (35.2 predicted, +2.6) | 7.79 |
| 2011.04 | 112.6 | 54.4 | (38.1 predicted, +2.9) | 9.71 |
| 2011.05 | 95.8 | 41.6 | (41.4 predicted, +3.3) | 9.18 |
| 2011.06 | 95.8 | 37.0 | (45.2 predicted, +3.8) | 8.96 |
| 2011.07 | 86.6 (1) | 3.4 (2A) / 52.5 (2B) | (49.4 predicted, +4.1) | (9.5) |
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.
