Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on November 19, 2014 at 05:00 UTC.

[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated daily)]
[Solar wind and electron fluence charts (updated daily)]
[Solar cycles 23-24 (last update October 1, 2014)] [Cycle 24 progress (last update November 1, 2014) ]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last update November 1, 2014)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (last update November 1, 2014)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update November 1, 2014)]

[Noon SDO sunspot count 1K Reference: 4K (large file) (updated daily)]

[POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated October 11, 2014]
[Presentations: 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf) / 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on November 18. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 398 and 483 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 167.4 (decreasing 48.9 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 146.1 - the highest since May 24, 2014). The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 9 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 9.1). Three hour interval K indices: 32223311 (planetary), 22233221 (Boulder).

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

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 10 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 267) and 9 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 173) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12208 [S12W54] developed slowly and quietly.
Region 12209 [S14E15] was mostly unchanged and quiet. There is still a magnetic delta in the eastern part of the largest penumbra and a major flare is possible.
Region 12214 [S12E33] developed slowly and quietly. Weak polarity intermixing is currently observed.
Region 12215 [N09E38] was quiet and stable.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4000 [S05W12] decayed early in the day, then developed slowly.
New region S4002 [N03E19] emerged with a few spots.
New region S4003 [N17W02] was observed with penumbra spots.
New region S4004 [N03W12] emerged with a penumbra spot.
New region S4005 [S08W28] was observed with a penumbra spot.

C2+ flares (GOES):

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR Comment
         

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

November 16-18: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO imagery.

Coronal holes

[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 recurrent trans equatorial coronal hole (CH643) was in a geoeffective position on November 15-17.

Propagation

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 fair to good.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to active on November 19-20 due to a high speed stream from CH643 and quiet on November 21.

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.

Active solar regions

(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
12207 2014.11.07
2014.11.08
      S09W69           plage
12208 2014.11.08
2014.11.09
2 16 5 S12W54 0010 BXO DRI area: 0030
12210 2014.11.10
2014.11.13
  2 2 N05W42 0007   BXO   location: N08W28
12209 2014.11.12 26 97 46 S13E07 1100 FKC FKC beta-gamma-delta

location: S14E15

area: 1800

S3985 2014.11.12       S07W13           plage
12212 2014.11.12
2014.11.14
      N16W40           plage
12213 2014.11.14
2014.11.15
6     S09W15 0010 BXO     plage
S3990 2014.11.14       S11W37           plage
S3992 2014.11.14       S17W34           plage
S3993 2014.11.15       N24W29           plage
12214 2014.11.15
2014.11.16
6 24 16 S13E47 0010 BXO DRI area: 0070
12215 2014.11.15
2014.11.17
2 4 3 N09E38 0010 BXO BXO  
S3996 2014.11.15       N26W45           plage
S3997 2014.11.16       N22W08           plage
S3998 2014.11.16       N02E23           plage
S3999 2014.11.16       N03W38           plage
S4000 2014.11.17   12 5 S05W12 0020   BXO  
S4002 2014.11.18   3 3 N03E19 0012   CRO    
S4003 2014.11.18   7 2 N17W02 0015   BXO    
S4004 2014.11.18   1 1 N03W12 0003   AXX    
S4005 2014.11.18   1   S08W28 0003   AXX    
Total spot count: 42 167 83  
Sunspot number: 92 267 173  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 52 186 102  (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): 55 93 95 k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC, k = 0.35 for MSN 2K, k = 0.55 for MSN 1K (MSN=Magnetic Sunspot Number)

Monthly solar cycle data

Month Average solar flux International sunspot number
(WDC-SILSO)
Smoothed sunspot number Average ap
(3)
Measured 1 AU
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 75.0 (+1.9) 7.71
2013.11  148.3 145.1 77.6 75.4 (+0.4) 5.68
2013.12 147.7 143.1 90.3 76.0 (+0.6) 4.68
2014.01 157.4 152.4 81.8 77.3 (+1.3) 5.44
2014.02 170.3
(cycle peak)
166.3 102.3 (cycle peak) 78.4 (+1.1) 10.70
2014.03 149.9 148.5 91.9 80.8 (+2.4) 4.88
2014.04 143.9 144.8 84.7 81.9 (+1.1)
(likely solar max)
7.88
2014.05 129.7 132.9 75.2 (80.3 projected, -1.6) 5.75
2014.06 122.0 125.8 71.0 (78.7 projected, -1.6) 6.72
2014.07 137.4 141.8 72.5 (77.1 projected, -1.6) 4.50
2014.08 124.7 127.9 74.7 (74.7 projected, -3.0) 7.71
2014.09 146.6 148.1 87.6 (71.5 projected, -3.2) 9.78
2014.10 153.4 152.9 60.6 (69.0 projected, -2.5) 8.96
2014.11 143.2 (1)   55.7 (2A) / 92.9 (2B) / 88.2 (2C) (67.3 projected, -1.7) (9.3)

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.