Last major update issued on March 19, 2013 at 04:20 UTC.
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The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on March 18. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 445 and 655 km/s.
Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 117.6 (increasing 4.1 over the last solar rotation). The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 6 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 6.4). Three hour interval K indices: 32221022 (planetary), 32221212 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux was at the class B4 level.
At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 13 spotted active regions (in 2K resolution SDO images).
Region 11692 [N08W42] was mostly unchanged and quiet.
Region 11694 [N16W33] lost the leader spots and was quiet.
Region 11695 [N10W20] was quiet and stable.
Region 11696 [N04W65] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11698 [S20W80] rotated partly out of view, the region produced
several small C flares during the day.
Region 11699 [S16W60] was quiet and stable.
Region 11700 [S13E43] decayed slowly and quietly.
Spotted regions not numbered by SWPC:
S2294 [N14E04] reemerged with penumbra spots.
S2299 [N20E28] reemerged with penumbra spots.
New region S2303 [N53W12] emerged with a penumbra spot at a high
latitude.
New region S2304 [S43W31] emerged with a penumbra spot.
New region S2305 [N07E06] emerged with a penumbra spot.
New region S2306 [N08W23] was split off from AR 11695.
March 17: A halo CME was observed in LASCO imagery late in the day.
STEREO-A displays a CME starting at 15:54 UTC with the major part of the
ejection occurring a few hours later (when it was observed in STEREO-B as well).
SDO imagery displays a complex sequence of events involving large parts of the
visible northern hemisphere. The most significant event was a filament eruption
close to AR S2302 starting near 16:43 UTC
March 16, 18: 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 small southern hemisphere coronal hole (CH561) was in an Earth facing position on March 18.
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.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on March 19. March 20 could see the arrival of the CME observed on March 17 and subsequent unsettled to minor storm conditions. Quiet to active conditions are possible on March 21-22 due to effects from CH561.
| 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 | ||||||||||
| 11692 | 2013.03.09 | 2 | 10 | 1 | N09W43 | 0240 | CSO | CHO |
 |
 |
area: 0330 |
| 11694 | 2013.03.09 2013.03.10 |
1 | 1 | N17W47 | 0005 | AXX |
 |
 |
location: N16W33 | ||
| 11695 | 2013.03.10 2013.03.11 |
9 | 7 | 4 | N10W23 | 0180 | DAO | CSO |
 |
 |
area: 0230 location: N10W20 |
| 11696 | 2013.03.11 | 16 | 10 | 7 | N05W63 | 0190 | EAI | EAO |
 |
 |
|
| 11697 | 2013.03.13 2013.03.14 |
N15W77 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| 11698 | 2013.03.14 | 16 | 6 | 4 | S19W86 | 0200 | EAO | CAO |
 |
 |
location: S20W80 |
| S2292 | 2013.03.15 | S26E10 | plage | ||||||||
| 11700 | 2013.03.15 2013.03.17 |
5 | 11 | 3 | S13E41 | 0060 | CSO | BXO |
 |
 |
area: 0025 location: S13E43 |
| S2294 | 2013.03.15 | 2 | N14E04 | 0004 | BXO |
 |
|||||
| S2295 | 2013.03.15 | S24W55 | plage | ||||||||
| S2296 | 2013.03.15 | N06W46 | plage | ||||||||
| S2297 | 2013.03.15 | N14W49 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| S2299 | 2013.03.15 | 2 | N20E28 | 0005 | AXX |
 |
|||||
| 11699 | 2013.03.16 2013.03.17 |
8 | 9 | 5 | S15W59 | 0060 | DAI | DAO |
 |
 |
|
| S2301 | 2013.03.17 | S13E25 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| S2303 | 2013.03.18 | 1 | N53W12 | 0001 | AXX |
 |
|||||
| S2304 | 2013.03.18 | 1 | S43W31 | 0002 | AXX |
 |
|||||
| S2305 | 2013.03.18 | 1 | N07E06 | 0002 | AXX |
 |
|||||
| S2306 | 2013.03.18 | 11 | 4 | N08W23 | 0030 | CRO |
 |
||||
| Total spot count: | 56 | 72 | 29 | ||||||||
| Sunspot number: | 116 | 202 | 109 | (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions) | |||||||
| Weighted SN: | 86 | 105 | 59 | (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): | 70 | 71 | 60 | 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 max) | 96.7 (cycle max) | 61.1 (+1.2) | 5.55 |
| 2011.12 | 141.3 | 73.0 | 63.4 (+2.3) | 3.78 |
| 2012.01 | 132.5 | 58.3 | 65.5 (+2.1) | 7.15 |
| 2012.02 | 106.5 | 32.9 | 66.9 (+1.4) possible cycle 24 max |
8.81 |
| 2012.03 | 114.7 | 64.3 | 66.8 (-0.1) | 16.08 |
| 2012.04 | 113.0 | 55.2 | 64.6 (-2.2) | 10.10 |
| 2012.05 | 121.5 | 69.0 | 61.7 (-2.9) | 7.06 |
| 2012.06 | 119.6 | 64.5 | 58.9 (-2.8) | 10.08 |
| 2012.07 | 133.9 | 66.5 | 57.7 (-1.2) | 13.90 |
| 2012.08 | 115.4 | 63.0 | 58.1 (+0.4) | 7.96 |
| 2012.09 | 122.9 | 61.4 | (57.9 projected, -0.2) | 8.07 |
| 2012.10 | 123.3 | 53.3 | (57.0 projected, -0.9) | 9.97 |
| 2012.11 | 121.3 | 61.4 | (56.1 projected, -0.9) | 7.08 |
| 2012.12 | 108.6 | 40.8 | (54.9 projected, -1.2) | 3.44 |
| 2013.01 | 127.1 | 62.9 | (53.6 projected, -1.3) | 4.69 |
| 2013.02 | 104.3 | 38.0 | (52.5 projected, -1.1) | 6.11 |
| 2013.03 | 118.2 (1) | 56.6 (2A) / 97.4 (2B) / 54.3 (2C) | (51.5 projected, -1.0) | (10.24) |
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 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.
