Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on November 6, 2015 at 04:25 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 unsettled on November 5 under the influence of effects from CH697. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 475 and 565 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 109.9 (increasing 28.7 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 104.7. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 14 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 13.8). Three hour interval K indices: 22333333 (planetary), 22443322 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B4 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 6 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 144) and 6 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 104) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12443 [N06W26] decayed further losing penumbral area and spots. The region has minor polarity intermixing and another M class flare is possible.
Region 12447 [N03W02] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12448 [N06E65] decayed in the leading spot section.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4869 [N15W56] reemerged with a few spots.
S4871 [N03E53] was quiet and stable.
New region S4875 [S09W03] emerged with a tiny spot.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR Recorded by Comment
           

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

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

November 3, 5: 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 sometime between late on November 6 and noon on November 7.

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]

The southernmost parts of a large northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH698) will be in an Earth facing position on November 5-8.

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.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on November 6 due to effects from CH697. The CME observed on November 4 could reach Earth late on November 6 or during the first half of November 7 and cause unsettled to minor storm conditions. Effects from CH698 will likely cause unsettled to active conditions on November 8-11 with a chance of minor storm 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.

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       N15W74            
12443 2015.10.28
2015.10.29
25 54 29 N07W23 0280 FHC FAI

area: 0470

location: N06W26

12444 2015.10.28
2015.10.29
      S04W44            
S4860 2015.10.29       N19W12          
S4861 2015.10.30       N11W40            
S4865 2015.10.31       S13W43            
12446 2015.10.31
2015.11.01
      N15W59            
S4867 2015.10.31       N32W22            
S4868 2015.10.31       S01W38            
12445 2015.11.01 1     N16W90 0020 HSX       part of AR 12442
S4869 2015.11.01   3 3 N15W56 0015   HRX    
12447 2015.11.03 3 3 3 N03W02 0010 BXO CRO  
S4871 2015.11.03   2 1 N03E43 0008   AXX  
12448 2015.11.03
2015.11.04
6 21 7 N06E59 0110 DAI DKI area: 0300

location: N06E65

S4873 2015.11.03       S13W20            
S4875 2015.11.05   1 1 S09W03 0003   AXX    
Total spot count: 35 84 44  
Sunspot number: 75 144 104  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 55 105 65  (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): 83 79 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 (117.5)   14.8 (2A) / 89.0 (2B) / 83.7 (2C) (65.0 projected, -2.1) (16.2)

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.