Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on November 8, 2015 at 03:55 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 major storm on November 7 under the influence of CME effects. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 445 and 751 km/s. The Bz component of the  interplanetary magnetic field was southwards during the first half of the day, near neutral from noon until 20h UT and then northwards. The total field of the IMF increased to high levels peaking near 18h UT.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 115.0 (increasing 30.4 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 104.5. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 39 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 39.3). Three hour interval K indices: 56654331 (planetary), 45653332 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B3 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 7 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 171) and 7 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 117) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12443 [N06W54] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12448 [N05E38] was mostly quiet and stable.
Region 12449 [S12E62] developed relatively quickly and a magnetic delta formed in the northern part of the large trailing penumbra. A minor M class flare is possible.
New region 12450 [S23E62] rotated into view on November 6 and was numbered by SWPC the next day.
New region 12451 [N02E26] rotated into view on November 3 with SWPC numbering the region 4 days later.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4860 [N18W40] reemerged with a tiny spot.
New region S4879 [N30E05] emerged with a tiny spot.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR Recorded by Comment
C3.0 00:21 N05E51 12448 GOES15  
C2.4 05:32   12450 GOES15  
C2.5 23:21 S18E66 12449 GOES15  

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

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

November 5-7: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in available 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]

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 poor to fair.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to active on November 8-11 due to effects from CH698, minor storm intervals are likely.

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
12443 2015.10.28
2015.10.29
9 30 13 N06W52 0190 ESO CAI

area: 0320

location: N06W54

12444 2015.10.28
2015.10.29
      S04W74            
S4860 2015.10.29   1 1 N19W38 0003   AXX    
12446 2015.10.31
2015.11.01
      N16W85            
12447 2015.11.03       N04W30          
12451 2015.11.03
2015.11.07
4 10 5 N03E24 0030 CRO CRO  
12448 2015.11.03
2015.11.04
7 27 11 N05E37 0080 CAO DAO area: 0190
S4873 2015.11.03       S13W33            
S4875 2015.11.05       S13W32          
12449 2015.11.06 6 24 11 S12E57 0150 DAO DKC beta-delta

location: S12E62

area: 0480

S4877 2015.11.06       N07W28          
12450 2015.11.06
2015.11.07
3 8 5 S23E66 0010 BXO DRI area: 0025

location: S23E62

S4879 2015.11.07   1 1 N30E05 0003   AXX    
Total spot count: 29 101 47  
Sunspot number: 79 171 117  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 47 127 73  (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): 87 94 99 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 (116.8)   20.3 (2A) / 87.1 (2B) / 87.4 (2C) (65.0 projected, -2.1) (19.1)

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.