Last major update issued on April 2, 2014 at 05:45 UTC.
[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated
daily)]
[Solar wind and
electron fluence charts (updated
daily)]
[Solar cycles 23-24 (last update April 1, 2014)] [Cycle
24 progress (last update April 1, 2014) ]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last
update April 1, 2014)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and
24 (last update April 1, 2014)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006
(last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update
April 2, 2014)]
[POES auroral activity level October
2009 - December 2012]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated
March 16, 2014]
[Presentation
3rd
SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf)]
The geomagnetic field was quiet on April 1. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 358 and 504 km/s, weakly under the influence of a low to moderate speed stream from CH609.
Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 153.3 (increasing 4.2 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 155.3. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 4 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 4.3). Three hour interval K indices: 10101212 (planetary), 11102422 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class B6 level.
At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 12 active regions in 2K resolution (SN: 245) and 11 active regions in 1K resolution (SN: 170) SDO images on the visible solar disk.
Region 12021 [S13W03] gained penumbral area. At
noon the trailing penumbra had a magnetic delta structure, however, this
disappeared during the latter half of the day. C and minor
M class flares are possible.
Region 12022 [N17E11] gained penumbra spots. A few low level C flares
were observed.
Region 12024 [N17W18] was quiet and stable.
Region 12025 [S20W43] decayed slowly and could soon become
spotless.
Region 12026 [S11E54] developed slowly and has a
magnetic delta structure in the central spot section. C and M class flares are possible.
Region 12027 [N12E58] was mostly unchanged and was the source of one low
level C flare.
New region 12028 [S08E63] rotated into view on March 31 and was numbered
by SWPC the next day.
New region 12029 [N17E44] emerged with several spots.
Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S3277 [S27W09] was quiet and stable.
S3288 [N06E45] was quiet and stable.
New region S3292 [N10E72] rotated into view.
New region S3294 [S05W30] emerged with a penumbra spot.
March 30-31: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO and
STEREO imagery.
April 1: A filament eruption from approx. 14:30 to 17h UTC in just east
of the central meridian mostly in the southeast quadrant and extending into the
northeast quadrant was the likely source of a full halo CME observed a little
later in LASCO 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 (CH609) wasin an Earth facing position on March 28-29.
Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over upper middle latitudes is poor. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on April 2-3. The slow CME observed after a filament eruption on April 1 could arrive during on April 4 and cause unsettled and active intervals.
| 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: 0-30% probability, Yellow: 30-70% probability, Red: 70-100% 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 | Magnetic (SDO) |
SWPC | STAR | Current | Previous | ||||||
| 2K | 1K | ||||||||||
| 12017 | 2014.03.21 2014.03.22 |
2 | N10W78 | 0010 | AXX |
 |
spotless |
||||
| 12018 | 2014.03.24 | N04W74 |
plage location: N05W69 |
||||||||
| 12020 | 2014.03.24 2014.03.27 |
S13W39 | |||||||||
| S3264 | 2014.03.26 | N08W26 | plage | ||||||||
| S3267 | 2014.03.26 | S22W20 | plage | ||||||||
| 12022 | 2014.03.27 2014.03.28 |
1 | 6 | 3 | N17E10 | 0030 | HSX | HAX |
 |
 |
area: 0050 |
| 12025 | 2014.03.27 2014.03.30 |
1 | S24W47 | 0003 | AXX |
 |
images/AR_S3271_20140331_2345.png | location: S20W43 | |||
| S3272 | 2014.03.27 | N12W47 | plage | ||||||||
| 12021 | 2014.03.28 | 18 | 24 | 13 | S14W05 | 0220 | DAI | DKC |
 |
 |
area: 0630 location: S13W03 |
| 12024 | 2014.03.28 2014.03.29 |
6 | 3 | N17W23 | 0018 | AXX |
 |
 |
location: N17W18 | ||
| S3276 | 2014.03.28 | S12W10 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| S3277 | 2014.03.28 | 8 | 3 | S27W09 | 0020 | BXO | images/AR_S3277_20140401_2345.png | images/AR_S3277_20140331_2345.png | |||
| S3278 | 2014.03.28 | S17W32 | plage | ||||||||
| S3280 | 2014.03.28 | N09W26 | plage | ||||||||
| 12026 | 2014.03.30 | 28 | 51 | 26 | S11E50 | 0130 | DAI | DKC |
 |
 |
beta-gamma-delta location: S11E54 area: 0360 |
| 12027 | 2014.03.30 2014.03.31 |
1 | 4 | 2 | N13E55 | 0100 | HSX | HKX |
 |
 |
|
| S3285 | 2014.03.30 | S10W36 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| S3288 | 2014.03.31 | 6 | 2 | N05E32 | 0017 | BXO |
 |
 |
|||
| 12028 | 2014.03.31 2014.04.01 |
3 | 5 | 3 | S08E62 | 0030 | DAO | DAO |
 |
 |
|
| S3290 | 2014.03.31 | S20E29 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| 12029 | 2014.04.01 | 1 | 8 | 4 | N18E42 | 0020 | HRX | DRO |
 |
 |
|
| S3292 | 2014.04.01 | 4 | 1 | N10E72 | 0020 | CRO |
 |
||||
| S3294 | 2014.04.01 | 1 | 1 | S05W30 | 0006 | AXX |
 |
||||
| Total spot count: | 54 | 125 | 60 | ||||||||
| Sunspot number: | 124 | 245 | 170 | (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions) | |||||||
| Weighted SN: | 82 | 171 | 106 | (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): | 74 | 86 | 94 | k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC, k = 0.35 for MSN 2K, k = 0.55 for MSN 1K (MSN=Magnetic Sunspot Number) | |||||||
| Month | Average solar flux | International sunspot number (WDC-SILSO) |
Smoothed sunspot number | Average ap (3) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measured | 1 AU | ||||
| 2013.01 | 127.1 | 123.1 | 62.9 | 58.7 (-0.9) | 4.69 |
| 2013.02 | 104.3 | 101.8 | 38.0 | 58.4 (-0.3) | 6.11 |
| 2013.03 | 111.3 | 110.2 | 57.9 | 57.5 (-0.9) | 10.56 |
| 2013.04 | 124.8 | 125.9 | 72.4 | 57.9 (+0.4) | 5.40 |
| 2013.05 | 131.4 | 134.3 | 78.7 | 59.9 (+2.0) | 9.73 |
| 2013.06 | 110.1 | 113.7 | 52.5 | 62.6 (+2.7) | 12.60 |
| 2013.07 | 115.5 | 119.3 | 57.0 | 65.5 (+2.9) | 9.47 |
| 2013.08 | 114.6 | 118.3 | 66.0 | 69.0 (+3.5) | 8.27 |
| 2013.09 | 102.6 | 103.7 | 36.9 | 73.1 (+4.1) | 5.23 |
| 2013.10 | 132.1 | 131.2 | 85.6 | (74.9 projected, +1.8) | 7.71 |
| 2013.11 | 148.3 | 145.1 | 77.6 | (74.9 projected, -0.0) | 5.68 |
| 2013.12 | 147.7 | 143.1 | 90.3 | (74.4 projected, -0.5) | 4.68 |
| 2014.01 | 157.4 | 152.4 | 82.0 | (74.3 projected, -0.1) | 5.44 |
| 2014.02 | 170.3 (cycle peak) |
166.3 | 102.8 (cycle peak) | (73.7 projected, -0.6) | 10.70 |
| 2014.03 | 149.9 | 148.5 | 92.2 | (73.8 projected, +0.1) | 4.88 |
| 2014.04 | 154.0 (1) | 4.1 (2A) / 124 (2B) / 109.2 (2C) | (73.0 projected, -0.8) | (5.5) | |
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 WDC-SILSO 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
GFZ 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.
