Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on November 15, 2015 at 05:20 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 14. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 425 and 531 km/s, decreasingly under the influence of a high speed stream associated with CH699.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 106.3 (decreasing 13.2 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 104.9. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 8 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 7.9). Three hour interval K indices: 32222112 (planetary), 44333212 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B2 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 11 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 165) and 8 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 106) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12448 [N07W51] was quiet and stable.
Region 12449 [S12W35] was quiet and stable.
Region 12452 [S11W00] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12453 [N07W06] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12454 [N10E57] developed as new flux emerged in the north.
New region 12455 [N14E37] emerged on November 13 and was numbered the next day by SWPC.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4884 [S17E22] was quiet and stable.
New region S4895 [N18W02] emerged with a tiny spot.
New region S4896 [N13W36] emerged with a tiny spot.
New region S4897 [S31W10] was observed with a tiny spot.
New region S4898 [S40W12] was observed 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 12-14: 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]

A recurrent northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH700) will be in an Earth facing position on November 14-15.

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 on November 15-16. Quiet to active conditions are possible on November 17-19 due to effects from CH700.

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
12451 2015.11.03
2015.11.07
      N05W77            
12448 2015.11.03
2015.11.04
  5 2 N06W56 0015   AXX

location: N07W51

12449 2015.11.06 2 12 4 S11W36 0010 BXO CRO area: 0030
12450 2015.11.06
2015.11.07
      S22W38        

 

S4881 2015.11.09       S08W16            
S4882 2015.11.09       S24W49            
12452 2015.11.10
2015.11.11
  5 2 S08W00 0010   AXX location: S11W00
S4884 2015.11.10   3   S17E22 0007   BXO  
S4886 2015.11.10       S28W15            
12453 2015.11.12
2015.11.13
2 6 5 N06W08 0010 BXO BXO  
12454 2015.11.12
2015.11.13
2 14 9 N08E52 0020 BXO DRI beta-gamma

area: 0060

location: N10E57

S4891 2015.11.12       N10W55            
S4892 2015.11.12       S14W53            
S4893 2015.11.12       N04E15            
12455 2015.11.13
2015.11.14
2 6 2 N15E36 0020 BXO CRO area: 0040

location: N14E37

S4895 2015.11.14   1 1 N18W02 0003   AXX    
S4896 2015.11.14   1 1 N07W51 0003   AXX    
S4897 2015.11.14   1   S31W10 0001   AXX    
S4898 2015.11.14   1   S40W12 0001   AXX    
Total spot count: 8 55 26  
Sunspot number: 48 165 106  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 8 64 35  (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): 53 91 90 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 (111.2)   33.4 (2A) / 71.6 (2B) / 92.8 (2C) (65.0 projected, -2.1) (17.3)

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).
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.