Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Last major update issued on October 10, 2011 at 04:55 UTC.

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

[POES auroral activity level since October 2009 - updated October 7, 2011]
Annotated geomagnetic activity charts - Carrington rotation 2113 [July-August 2011] - 2114 [August-September 2011]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated June 27, 2011]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to active on October 9. Solar wind speed ranged between 303 and 344 km/s under the influence of a low speed stream from CH478.

Solar flux measured at 23h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 121.0 (decreasing 2.9 over the last solar rotation). The planetary A index was 13 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 12.8). Three hour interval K indices: 34332223 (planetary), 34332222 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B3 level.

At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 11 spotted regions (in 2K resolution SDO images).

Region 11308 [S25W40] reemerged with tiny spots on October 9.
Region 11309 [N23W23] was quiet and stable.
Region 11310 [S33W65] was quiet and stable.
Region 11311 [S11W49] was quiet and stable.
Region 11312 [N23E10] was quiet and stable.
Region 11313 [S14E15] added several spots while penumbral area decreased.
New region 11314 [N27E75] rotated into view at the northeast limb on October 8 and was numbered by SWPC the next day. The region was generally unchanged on October 9. There's a chance of a major flare from this region. Flare: C1.7 at 13:27 UTC

Spotted regions not reported by NOAA/SWPC:
[S1255] reemerged on October 8. Location at midnight: S14W13
[S1262] emerged in the northwest quadrant on October 8 and developed slowly on October 9. Location at midnight: N13W42
[S1263] emerged in the northeast quadrant on October 9. Location at midnight: N21E21
[S1264] emerged in the northeast quadrant on October 9. Location at midnight: N33E17

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

October 7-9: No obviously Earth directed CMEs 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 northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH478) was in an Earth facing position on October 5-6. A trans equatorial coronal hole (CH479) will likely rotate into an Earth facing position on October 11-13.

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 to good.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on October 10 becoming quiet on October 11-13. Quiet to active with a chance of minor storm intervals is possible on October 14-16 due to effects from CH479.

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
11307 2011.09.27
2011.09.28
    N17W67           plage
11308 2011.09.30
2011.10.01
  2 S25W55 0000   AXX   location: S25W40
11309 2011.10.01
2011.10.02
1 9 N23W24 0070 HSX CSO

area: 0120

11310 2011.10.02
2011.10.03
1 1 S33W66 0010 AXX AXX  
S1251 2011.10.03     S20W20         plage
11311 2011.10.03
2011.10.04
1 2 S11W50 0040 HSX HSX  
11312 2011.10.03
2011.10.04
1 1 N23E10 0210 HSX HHX

area: 0330

11313 2011.10.04
2011.10.05
6 21 S15E13 0090 DSO DAI  
S1255 2011.10.06   2 S14W13 0000   BXO  
S1257 2011.10.07     N11E46           plage
S1258 2011.10.07     S26W04           plage
S1259 2011.10.07     N19W10         plage
S1260 2011.10.07     N20W52           plage
11314 2011.10.08
2011.10.09
1 4 N26E72 0180 HSX CHO formerly region S1261

area: 0500

location: N27E75

S1262 2011.10.08   5 N13W42 0020   BXO  
S1263 2011.10.09   10 N21E21 0030   CRO    
S1264 2011.10.09   1 N33E17 0000   AXX    
Total spot count: 11 58  
Sunspot number: 71 168  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Classification adjusted SN: 36 96  (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): 43 55  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
2010.07 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 33.4 (+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 (41.1 predicted, +4.2) 9.71 / 8.83
2011.05 95.8 41.6 (45.2 predicted, +4.1) 9.18 / 8.94
2011.06 95.8 37.0 (49.2 predicted, +4.0) 8.96
2011.07 94.2 43.9 (53.1 predicted, +3.9) 9.14
2011.08 101.7 50.6 (57.2 predicted, +4.1) 8.16
2011.09 133.8 78.0 (60.3 predicted, +3.1) 12.80
2011.10 126.6 (1) 26.8 (2A) / 92.4 (2B) (61.8 predicted, +1.5) (9.52)

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.