Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Last major update issued on September 19, 2011 at 04:20 UTC.

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

[POES auroral activity level since October 2009 - updated September 15, 2011]
Annotated geomagnetic activity charts - Carrington rotation 2112 [July 2011] -  2113 [July-August 2011]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated June 27, 2011]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on September 18. Solar wind speed ranged between 351 and 651 km/s.

Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 150.1 (increasing 41.9 over the last solar rotation). The planetary A index was 5 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 5.3). Three hour interval K indices: 21012113 (planetary), 22022213 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B9 level.

At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 9 spotted regions (in 2K resolution SDO images).

Region 11289 [N23W80] lost the trailing spots and was quiet.
Region 11292 [N12W30] lost the spots observed one day earlier while a new spot emerged in the northern part.
Region 11295 [N23W08] is developing with new spots emerging and a significant increase in penumbral area. An M class flare is possible.
Region 11296 [N26E08] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11298 [N14W06] decayed further and was quiet.
Region 11299 [S19W13] decayed slowly and was quiet.
New region 11300 [N24W45] emerged in the northwest quadrant on September 16 and was numbered by SWPC 2 days later. The region matured and was quiet on September 18.
New region 11301 [N21E79] rotated fully into view revealing a region with polarity intermixing and at least C class flare potential.

Spotted regions not numbered by NOAA/SWPC:
[S1221] emerged in the northeast quadrant on September 18. Location at midnight: N12E51

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

September 16-18: 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

No obvious coronal holes are currently in or near potentially geoeffective positions.

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

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly quiet on September 19-21.

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
11289 2011.09.05
2011.09.06
4 5 N23W79 0310 HHX HHX

 

11294 2011.09.10
2011.09.12
    S16W59         plage
S1203 2011.09.10     N07W41           plage
11292 2011.09.11   1 N10W31 0000   AXX location: N12W30
11295 2011.09.11
2011.09.12
26 43 N22W12 0300 DHC DHC area: 0400
11296 2011.09.12
2011.09.13
11 20 N25E06 0100 DSO CSO

location: N26E08

area: 0060

S1214 2011.09.13     S25W59         plage
11299 2011.09.14
2011.09.16
17 23 S20W15 0110 DAI CRI location: S19W13

area: 0040

11298 2011.09.14 7 11 N15W06 0030 CRO CRO  
11300 2011.09.16
2011.09.18
7 7 N24W45 0090 CSO CSO formerly region S1218
11301 2011.09.17
2011.09.18
2 11 N21E77 0060 DSO DAO formerly region S1219

area: 0120

S1220 2011.09.17     N17W30         plage
S1221 2011.09.18   1 N12E51 0000   AXX    
Total spot count: 74 122  
Sunspot number: 144 212  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Classification adjusted SN: 117 163  (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): 86 70  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
2010.06 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 33.4 (+2.4) 5.41 / 6.44
2011.03 115.0 56.2 (36.2 predicted, +2.8) 7.79 / 8.18
2011.04 112.6 54.4 (39.1 predicted, +2.9) 9.71 / 8.83
2011.05 95.8 41.6 (42.4 predicted, +3.3) 9.18 / 8.94
2011.06 95.8 37.0 (46.1 predicted, +3.7) 8.96
2011.07 94.2 43.9 (50.3 predicted, +4.2) 9.14
2011.08 101.7 50.6 (54.4 predicted, +4.1) 8.16
2011.09 124.5 (1) 66.5 (2A) /  110.8 (2B) (56.7 predicted, +2.3) (12.21)

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.