Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on November 30, 2014 at 06:35 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 November 22, 2014]
[Presentations: 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf) / 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was very quiet on November 29. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 353 and 448 km/s.

Solar flux at 18h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 177.3 (increasing 52.9 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 150.6 - the highest since May 5, 2014). The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 4 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 3.6). Three hour interval K indices: 11111111 (planetary), 11212221 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B7 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 14 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 350) and 13 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 251) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12216 [S13W51] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12217 [S18W11] gained small spots and has polarity intermixing.
Region 12218 [N17E03] was quiet and stable.
Region 12219 [N04W48] developed a magnetic delta near its center. M class flares are possible.
Region 12220 [S16W39] was quiet and stable.
Region 12221 [N04E30] lost penumbral area and gained a few small spots.
Region 12222 [S19E30] developed a small magnetic delta near the eastern edge of the large leading penumbra. An M class flare is possible.
Region 12223 [N15W39] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12224 [S23E20] decayed slowly and quietly.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4020 [N16W03] was quiet and stable.
S4038 [S27W40] reemerged with penumbra spots.
S4042 [S04E18] reemerged with penumbra spots.
S4043 [N12W60] was quiet and stable.
New region S4044 [S15E72] rotated into view.

C2+ flares (GOES):

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR Comment
C4.0 00:10   12224 flare started on Nov.28
C4.2 02:01 S20E34 12224  
C6.7 08:21 S18E41 12222  
C2.1 09:02 N05W38 12219  
C4.0 10:01 S21E37 12222  
C6.5 (LDE) 13:49   12219  
C3.8 18:03 S21E32 12222  

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

November 27-29: 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]

No obvious coronal holes are currently in or near Earth facing positions.

Propagation

Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over upper middle latitudes is fair to good. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on November 30 - December 2.

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
12216 2014.11.19
2014.11.20
8 20 8 S13W54 0140 DAO CAO

area: 0210

location: S13W51

S4008 2014.11.19       N21W56           plage
12217 2014.11.22
2014.11.23
3 32 22 S19W12 0070 CAO DAI beta-gamma

location: S18W11

S4016 2014.11.22       N12W44           plage
S4020 2014.11.23   3 3 N16W03 0013   AXX  
12218 2014.11.23 1 2 2 N16E02 0130 HSX CSO

area: 0220

S4023 2014.11.23       N02W56           plage
12219 2014.11.24 16 37 16 N05W47 0260 EKC DKC beta-gamma-delta

area: 0360

12220 2014.11.24 1 1 1 S16W41 0000 AXX HRX area: 0006
S4028 2014.11.24       S05W21           plage
12221 2014.11.25
2014.11.26
18 39 25 N04E29 0200 EAC EAI beta-gamma
S4033 2014.11.25       S08W39           plage
12222 2014.11.26 26 48 32 S21E30 0540 EKC EKC beta-gamma-delta

area: 0890

12224 2014.11.26
2014.11.28
  6 3 S24E15 0010   BXO location: S23E20
12223 2014.11.26
2014.11.27
3 6 2 N17W40 0010 BXO CRO location: N15W39

reversed polarities

S4037 2014.11.26       N12W15           plage
S4038 2014.11.26   2   S27W40     AXX    
S4039 2014.11.27       S19E06           plage
S4041 2014.11.27       N26W08           plage
S4042 2014.11.27   4 3 S04E18 0010   BXO    
S4043 2014.11.28   6 2 N12W60 0015   BXO  
S4044 2014.11.29   4 2 S15E72 0012   BXO    
Total spot count: 76 210 121  
Sunspot number: 156 350 251  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 116 256 167  (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): 94 123 138 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
2014.11 154.0 (1)   96.8 (2A) / 100.1 (2B) / 88.6 (2C) (67.3 projected, -1.7) (9.0)

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.