Last major update issued on December 7, 2013 at 06:05 UTC.
[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated
daily)]
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[Solar cycles 23-24 (last update December 1, 2013)] [Cycle
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[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last
update December 1, 2013)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and
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[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006
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[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated
December 3, 2013]
[Presentation
3rd
SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf)]
The geomagnetic field was quiet on December 6. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 323 and 378 km/s.
Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 150.5 (increasing 2.4 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 128.9. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 4 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 4.1). Three hour interval K indices: 11111112 (planetary), 11011121 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux was at the class C1 level.
At the time of counting spots (see image time) spots were observed in 9 active regions in 2K resolution (SN: 195) and 8 active regions in 1K resolution (SN: 139) SDO images on the visible solar disk.
Region 11908 [S24W79] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11909 [S18W48] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11912 [S20E15] was quiet and stable.
Region 11915 [S29W48] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11916 [S12W12] developed and could produce C and
minor M class flares. The region has polarity intermixing.
Spotted regions not numbered by SWPC:
S2876 [S13W26] was quiet and stable.
S2892 [S11E51] reemerged with penumbra spots.
New region S2894 [S16E81] rotated partly into view.
The single penumbra may contain a magnetic delta structure, however, the region
will have to rotate into better view to determine this.
New region S2895 [N33W32] emerged with a penumbra spot.
December 4: A filament eruption across the central meridian in the
northern hemisphere may have been associated with a CME, however, no LASCO
imagery has become available over the last day. STEREO indicates a small CME was
launched.
December 5: A filament eruption was observed near AR 11909 starting at
20:41 UTC in SDO/AIA imagery. STEREO imagery indicate that there was a CME
associated with this event and that it could have an Earth directed component.
December 6: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO
and
STEREO imagery.
Coronal hole history (since October
2002)
Compare today's report to the situation one solar rotation ago:
28 days ago
27 days ago
26 days ago
A trans equatorial coronal hole (CH596) was in an Earth facing position on December 3-4.
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.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to active on December 7 due to effects from CH596. Quiet to unsettled conditions are likely on December 8-9.
| Coronal holes (1) | Coronal mass ejection (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 2K resolution) Compare to the previous day's image. 0.5K image
When available the active region map has a coronal hole polarity overlay where red (pink) is negative and blue 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 | ||||||
| 2K | 1K | ||||||||||
| 11908 | 2013.11.26 2013.11.27 |
2 | 1 | 1 | S25W79 | 0040 | HSX | HRX |
 |
 |
|
| 11909 | 2013.11.26 2013.11.27 |
10 | 18 | 9 | S17W50 | 0140 | DSO | ESO |
 |
 |
location: S18W48 |
| S2866 | 2013.11.28 | S30W48 | plage | ||||||||
| 11911 | 2013.11.29 2013.11.28 |
1 | S11W64 | 0010 | AXX |
 |
spotless |
||||
| 11914 | 2013.11.29 2013.12.02 |
S18W75 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| S2871 | 2013.11.30 | N21W12 | plage | ||||||||
| S2876 | 2013.12.01 | 6 | 2 | S13W26 | 0014 | AXX |
 |
 |
|||
| 11912 | 2013.12.01 2013.12.02 |
1 | 17 | 7 | S21E17 | 0130 | CAO | CSO |
 |
 |
area: 0180 location: S20E15 |
| S2878 | 2013.12.01 | S27W21 | plage | ||||||||
| 11915 | 2013.12.01 2013.12.03 |
10 | 10 | 7 | S30W48 | 0030 | DRO | DRI |
 |
 |
area: 0050 |
| S2880 | 2013.12.02 | S13W49 | plage | ||||||||
| S2881 | 2013.12.02 | N10W40 | plage | ||||||||
| S2882 | 2013.12.02 | N24W32 | plage | ||||||||
| S2883 | 2013.12.02 | S06W50 | plage | ||||||||
| S2886 | 2013.12.03 | S27W23 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| S2887 | 2013.12.03 | N08W14 | plage | ||||||||
| 11916 | 2013.12.04 | 21 | 45 | 30 | S13W10 | 0200 | DAC | DAC |
 |
 |
beta-gamma area: 0350 location: S12W12 |
| S2890 | 2013.12.04 | S10W35 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| S2892 | 2013.12.04 | 5 | S11E62 | 0012 | BXO |
 |
|||||
| S2894 | 2013.12.06 | 2 | 2 | S16E81 | 0100 | HAX |
 |
possible magnetic delta | |||
| S2895 | 2013.12.06 | 1 | 1 | N33W32 | 0004 | AXX |
 |
||||
| Total spot count: | 45 | 105 | 59 | ||||||||
| Sunspot number: | 105 | 195 | 139 | (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions) | |||||||
| Weighted SN: | 68 | 131 | 85 | (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): | 63 | 68 | 76 | k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC, k = 0.35 for STAR SDO 2K, k = 0.55 for STAR SDO 1K | |||||||
| Month | Average measured solar flux | International sunspot number (SIDC) | Smoothed sunspot number | Average ap (3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011.11 | 153.5 (cycle peak) | 96.7 (cycle peak) | 61.1 (+1.2) | 5.55 |
| 2012.02 | 106.5 | 32.9 | 66.9 (+1.4) possibe cycle 24 max |
8.81 |
| 2012.08 | 115.4 | 63.0 | 58.2 (+0.4) | 7.96 |
| 2012.09 | 122.9 | 61.4 | 58.1 (-0.1) | 8.07 |
| 2012.10 | 123.3 | 53.3 | 58.6 (+0.5) | 9.97 |
| 2012.11 | 121.3 | 61.8 | 59.7 (+1.1) | 7.08 |
| 2012.12 | 108.6 | 40.8 | 59.6 (-0.1) | 3.44 |
| 2013.01 | 127.1 | 62.9 | 58.7 (-0.9) | 4.69 |
| 2013.02 | 104.3 | 38.0 | 58.4 (-0.3) | 6.11 |
| 2013.03 | 111.3 | 57.9 | 57.5 (-0.9) | 10.56 |
| 2013.04 | 124.8 | 72.4 | 57.9 (+0.4) | 5.40 |
| 2013.05 | 131.4 | 78.7 | 59.9 (+2.0) | 9.73 |
| 2013.06 | 110.1 | 52.5 | (61.5 projected, +1.6) | 12.60 |
| 2013.07 | 115.5 | 57.0 | (62.1 projected, +0.6) | 9.47 |
| 2013.08 | 114.6 | 66.0 | (62.3 projected, +0.2) | 8.27 |
| 2013.09 | 102.6 | 36.9 | (61.2 projected, -1.1) | 5.23 |
| 2013.10 | 132.1 | 85.6 | (59.0 projected, -2.2) | 7.71 |
| 2013.11 | 148.3 | 77.6 | (57.3 projected, -1.7) | 5.68 |
| 2013.12 | 139.1 (1) | 20.4 (2A) / 105.2 (2B) / 81.0 (2C) | (56.1 projected, -1.2) | (4.7) |
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)
Boulder SN current month
average to date. 2C) STAR SDO 1K Wolf number 30 day average.
3) Running average based on the quicklook and definitive Potsdam WDC ap indices.
Values in red are based on the definitive
international Potsdam
WDC
ap indices.
This report has been prepared by Jan Alvestad. It is based on the 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.
