Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Last major update issued on July 25, 2011 at 04:40 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 23, 2011]
Annotated geomagnetic activity charts - Carrington rotation 2110 [May-June 2011] - 2111 [June-July 2011]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated June 27, 2011]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet on July 24. Solar wind speed ranged between 381 and 466 km/s. A high speed stream associated with CH467 was observed beginning at ACE near 20h UTC. IMF was mostly northwards early on resulting in minor geomagnetic effects. More significant southward swings have been observed early on July 25 causing unsettled conditions.

Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 86.2 (decreasing 3.0 over the last solar rotation). The planetary A index was 4 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 4.5). Three hour interval K indices: 20011122 (planetary), 11121222 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B1 level.

At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 7 spotted regions.

Region 11254 decayed further retaining only a single small spot.
Region 11259 was quiet and stable.
New region 11260 rotated into view at the northeast limb on July 24.

Spotted regions not numbered by NOAA/SWPC:
[S1127] emerged in the northeast quadrant on July 22. Location at midnight: N05E21
[S1129] emerged in the northeast quadrant on July 23. Location at midnight: N11E19
[S1130] emerged in the northeast quadrant on July 23. Location at midnight: N27E13
[S1133] emerged in the northeast quadrant on July 24. Location at midnight: N17E04

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

July 22-24: No obviously earth directed CMEs were observed.

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 small trans equatorial coronal hole (CH467) was observed on July 21-22. A well defined coronal hole is currently visible in the northeastern quadrant. It appears to be too far to the north to cause a geomagnetic disturbance.

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 poor. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is fair.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on July 25 and quiet on July 26-27.

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
11251 2011.07.10
2011.07.11
1   N17W98 0010 AXX    

rotated out of view early in the day

11252 2011.07.12
2011.07.13
    N25W78          

plage

11254 2011.07.13
2011.07.14
2 1 S23W67 0010 AXX AXX

location: S23W63

area: 0000

11259 2011.07.17
2011.07.18
3 11 N25W10 0010 BXO BXO

location: N24W09

S1123 2011.07.17     N10W50           plage
S1125 2011.07.19     S17W53           plage
S1126 2011.07.21     N23W33           plage
S1127 2011.07.22   5 N05E21 0000   BXO  
S1128 2011.07.22     N07W53           plage
S1129 2011.07.23   1 N11E19 0000   AXX  
S1130 2011.07.23   1 N27E13 0000   AXX  
S1131 2011.07.23     S17E21         plage
S1132 2011.07.23     S17E05         plage
11260 2011.07.24 1 2 N20E71 0010 AXX AXX   location: N18E70
S1133 2011.07.24   3 N17E04 0000   AXX    
Total spot count: 7 24  
Sunspot number: 47 94  (raw spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Classification adjusted SN: 7 24  (Sum of raw spot count + classification adjustment for each AR. Classification adjustment: X=0, R=3, A/S=5, H/K=10)
Relative sunspot number (Wolf number): 28 31  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
2010.04 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 / 8.18
2011.04 112.6 54.4 (38.1 predicted, +2.9) 9.71 / 8.83
2011.05 95.8 41.6 (41.4 predicted, +3.3) 9.18 / 8.94
2011.06 95.8 37.0 (45.2 predicted, +3.8) 8.96
2011.07 91.2 (1) 50.2 (2A) / 64.8 (2B) (49.4 predicted, +4.1) (9.59)

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.