Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on November 5, 2015 at 05:50 UT.

Charts (* = updated daily) Data and archive
  Solar wind (*) Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (*)
  Electron fluence (*) Archived daily reports and monthly data from 2003.01 (November 1, 2015)
Solar cycle Solar cycles 23-24 (November 1, 2015) Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (April 5, 2007)
  Cycle 24 progress (November 1, 2015) Noon SDO sunspot count 1K Reference: 4K (large file) (*)
  Solar cycles 1-24 (July 17, 2015) POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012
  Comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (November 1, 2015) 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013
  Comparison of cycles 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (November 1, 2015) 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014
  Solar polar fields vs. solar cycles (October 13, 2015)  

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to minor storm on November 4 under the influence of effects from CH697. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 545 and 778 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 113.8 (increasing 34.3 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 104.9. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 29 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 28.9). Three hour interval K indices: 45545222 (planetary), 45654322 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B5 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 6 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 156) and 5 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 103) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12442 [N16W79] produced 2 M flares and is decaying slowly. This is AR 12445 to SWPC.
Region 12443 [N06W12] decayed losing penumbral area and spots. The region has minor polarity intermixing and another M class flare is possible.
Region 12447 [N03E12] decayed in the leading spot section while slow development was observed in the trailing spot section.
New region 12448 [N06E76] rotated partly into view on November 3 and was numbered by SWPC the next day.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4860 [N19E01] was quiet and stable.
S4871 [N03E66] was quiet and stable.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR Recorded by Comment
C3.0 00:32 N15W63 12442 GOES15  
M1.9/1N 03:26 N15W64 12442 GOES15 CME, triggered filament eruption
C4.6 09:00 N17W65 12442 GOES15  
M2.5/1N 12:03 N12W73 12442 GOES15  
M3.7/2B (LDE) 13:52 N09W04 12443 GOES15 M4.7 @ SDO/EVE
partial halo CME
C5.0 15:57   12442 SDO/EVE  
C3.1 16:45   12442 SDO/EVE  

Flare activity (SDO/EVE/ESP XRS-B proxy)

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

November 2-3: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in available LASCO imagery.
November 4: A partial halo CME was observed after the M3 LDE in AR 12443. The CME could reach Earth on November 6.

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 (CH697) was in an Earth facing position on October 30-November 1. The southernmost parts of a large northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH698) will be in a potentially geoeffective position on November 5-8. A recurrent trans equatorial coronal hole (CH699) will likely rotate across the central meridian on November 6-7.

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 poor to fair.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on November 5 due to effects from CH697. The CME observed on November 4 could reach Earth on November 6 and cause unsettled to minor storm conditions that day and on November 7. Effects from CH698 and CH699 will likely cause unsettled to active conditions on November 8-11.

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 overlays
Comment
SWPC Magnetic
(SDO)
SWPC STAR Current Previous
2K 1K
12441 2015.10.27       N15W60          
12442 2015.10.27
2015.10.28
  7 5 N16W90 0250   EAO

beta-gamma

location: N16W79

 

12443 2015.10.28
2015.10.29
40 71 39 N06W09 0370 FKC FAC beta-gamma

area: 0550

location: N06W12

12444 2015.10.28
2015.10.29
      S04W29            
S4860 2015.10.29   2   N19E01 0003   AXX  
S4861 2015.10.30       N11W27            
S4862 2015.10.30       S07W48            
S4865 2015.10.31       S13W30          
12446 2015.10.31
2015.11.01
      N15W44          
S4867 2015.10.31       N32W09            
S4868 2015.10.31       S01W25            
12445 2015.11.01 6     N17W80 0140 EAI       part of AR 12442
S4869 2015.11.01       N16W39          
12447 2015.11.03 4 8 3 N03E10 0010 CRO CRO area: 0020

location: N03E12

S4871 2015.11.03   1 1 N03E66 0006   AXX  
12448 2015.11.03
2015.11.04
3 7 5 N06E72 0060 DSO DAO area: 0250

location: N06E76

S4873 2015.11.03       S13W07          
S4874 2015.11.03       S08W55          
Total spot count: 53 96 53  
Sunspot number: 93 156 103  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 76 114 72  (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): 102 86 88 k * (sunspot number)
As of July 1, 2015: k = 1.1 for SWPC, k = 0.55 for MSN 2K, k = 0.85 for MSN 1K (MSN=Magnetic Sunspot Number)

Monthly solar cycle data

Month Average solar flux International sunspot number
(WDC-SILSO) (4)
Smoothed sunspot number (4) Average ap
(3)
Measured 1 AU
2014.02 170.3
(cycle peak)
166.3 146.1 (cycle peak) 110.5 (+1.2) 10.70
2014.04 143.9 144.8 112.5 116.4 (+2.1) (solar max) 7.88
2014.09 146.6 148.1 130.0 101.9 (-6.4) 9.78
2014.10 153.4 152.9 90.0 97.3 (-4.6) 8.96
2014.11 154.8 151.4 103.6 94.7 (-2.6) 9.33
2014.12 158.7 153.8 112.9 92.2 (-2.5) 11.24
2015.01 141.9 137.3 93.0 89.3 (-2.9) 9.46
2015.02 129.1 126.0 66.7 86.1 (-3.2) 9.92
2015.03 125.9 124.6 54.5 82.2 (-3.9) 16.14
2015.04 128.8 129.7 75.3 78.9 (-3.3) 10.73
2015.05 120.0 122.6 88.8 (76.3 projected, -2.6) 8.29
2015.06 122.3 126.1 66.5 (72.6 projected, -3.7) 13.15
2015.07 107.0 110.8 66.4 (68.9 projected, -3.7) 8.83
2015.08 105.4 108.0 64.6 (67.7 projected, -1.2) 14.58
2015.09 101.7 102.7 78.1 (68.0 projected, +0.3) 15.78
2015.10 104.1 103.3 61.7 (67.1 projected, -0.9) 14.02
2015.11 (119.4)   12.3 (2A) / 92.5 (2B) / 82.2 (2C) (65.0 projected, -2.1) (16.8)

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).
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.
4) Updated to new data set from WDC-SILSO on July 1, 2015

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 Universal Time. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

SDO images are courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.