Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on October 18, 2015 at 04:00 UT. Updates may be incomplete until October 26.

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 (October 1, 2015)
Solar cycle Solar cycles 23-24 (October 1, 2015) Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (April 5, 2007)
  Cycle 24 progress (October 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 (October 1, 2015) 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013
  Comparison of cycles 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (October 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 October 17. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 335 and 358 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 116.6 (increasing 13.7 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 102.4. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 8 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 8.4). Three hour interval K indices: 23122231 (planetary), 22233232 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class C1 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 9 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 165) and 8 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 116) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12431 [S18W16] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12432 [S21W37] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12434 [S10E21] developed a magnetic delta in the northern part of the largest penumbra. Further M class flaring is possible.
Region 12435 [S14E60] was quiet and stable.
New region 12436 [N08E70] rotated into view on October 16 and was numbered by SWPC the next day. Minor M class flares are possible.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
New region S4826 [S11E43] was observed with a tiny spot in an old plage area.
New region S4827 [N22E23] was observed with tiny spots.
New region S4828 [S18E11] emerged with tiny spots.
New region S4829 [N12W11] was observed with a tiny spot.

An active region at and just behind the southeast limb produced most of the flares recorded during the day. A large spot began rotating into view early on October 18.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR Recorded by Comment
C3.4 01:40 behind SE limb   GOES15 attributed to AR 12435 by SWPC
C2.8 04:17 behind SE limb   GOES15 attributed to AR 12435 by SWPC
C2.5 06:29 S10E33 12434 GOES15  
C4.5/1N 12:35 S07E27 12434 GOES15  
C2.3 12:49   12434 GOES15  
C8.6 18:51 behind SE limb   GOES15  
M1.1 20:23 behind SE limb   GOES15  
M1.5 20:42 behind SE limb   GOES15  
C4.7 21:19 behind SE limb   GOES15 attributed to AR 12434 by SWPC
C4.8 21:59 behind SE limb   GOES15 attributed to AR 12435 by SWPC
C6.6 23:35     GOES15 attributed to AR 12435 by SWPC
CME

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

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

October 15-17: 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 northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH696) will rotate into an Earth facing position on October 17-18.

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 October 17-19. Quiet to active is possible on October 20-21 due to effects from CH696.

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
12430 2015.10.07
2015.10.08
      S17W62            
12432 2015.10.09
2015.10.11
3 2 1 S22W38 0010 BXO CRO  
S4808 2015.10.09       S10W44            
12431 2015.10.10 3 7 3 S18W19 0020 CSO DRO

location: S18W16

S4811 2015.10.10       N15W36            
12434 2015.10.13 20 41 20 S10E20 0260 DKI DKI beta-gamma-delta

area: 0380

S4819 2015.10.15       S12E05            
S4820 2015.10.15       S10W22            
12435 2015.10.16 1 3 2 S15E60 0030 HAX HAX  
12436 2015.10.16
2015.10.17
6 16 6 N09E71 0080 DAI EAI area: 0260
S4824 2015.10.16       N03W04          
S4825 2015.10.16       N03W45          
S4826 2015.10.17   1 1 S11E43 0003   AXX    
S4827 2015.10.17   2 2 N22E23 0007   AXX    
S4828 2015.10.17   2 1 S18E11 0005   BXO    
S4829 2015.10.17   1   N12W11 0003   AXX    
Total spot count: 33 75 36  
Sunspot number: 83 165 116  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 58 101 62  (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): 91 91 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
2014.08 124.7 127.9 106.9 108.3 (-4.3) 7.71
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 (78.7 projected, -3.5) 10.73
2015.05 120.0 122.6 88.8 (75.9 projected, -2.8) 8.29
2015.06 122.3 126.1 66.5 (72.2 projected, -3.7) 13.15
2015.07 107.0 110.8 66.4 (68.5 projected, -3.7) 8.83
2015.08 105.4 108.0 64.6 (67.3 projected, -1.2) 14.58
2015.09 101.7 102.7 78.1 (67.6 projected, +0.3) 15.78
2015.10 (94.2)   23.1 (2A) / 42.2 (2B) / 77.4 (2C) (66.7 projected, -0.9) (18.7)

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.