Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on September 9, 2016 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 (September 7, 2016)
Solar cycle Solar cycles 23-24 (September 3, 2016) Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (April 5, 2007)
  Cycle 24 progress (September 3, 2016) Noon SDO sunspot count 1K / 4K (*)
  Solar cycles 1-24 (July 17, 2015) POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012
  Comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (September 3, 2016) 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013
  Comparison of cycles 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (September 3, 2016) 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014
  Solar polar fields vs. solar cycles (August 27, 2016)  

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on September 8. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 433 and 543 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 94.5 (decreasing 0.3 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 88.0. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 11 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 11.0). Three hour interval K indices: 33332222 (planetary), 34443322 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B1 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 6 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 117) and 6 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 89) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12584 [S03W59] was quiet and stable.
Region 12585 [N08W34] produced only minor activity. An M class flare is possible due to the magnetic delta in the trailing spots.
Region 12588 [N11W19] decayed slowly and quietly.
New region 12589 [N15E15] emerged on September 5 and was numbered by SWPC 3 days later.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S5433 [N05E46] developed slowly and quietly.
New region S5434 [N08W06] emerged with tiny spots.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UT) Location AR Recorded by Comment
           

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

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

September 6-8: 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]

No obvious coronal holes are currently in or approaching Earth facing positions.

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 September 9-11.

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). 4K 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
12584 2016.08.29
2016.08.31
  2 1 S08W57 0004   AXX

location: S03W59

12585 2016.08.30
2016.08.31
12 27 12 N08W37 0380 EKO EKC beta-gamma-delta

area: 0680

location: N08W34

12587 2016.08.31
2016.09.04
      N10W28            
12588 2016.09.04
2016.09.06
4 3 2 N12W06 0010 BXO CRO

 

S5427 2016.09.05       N07W43            
12589 2016.09.05
2016.09.08
3 19 11 N14E14 0010 BXO DRI area: 0050
S5429 2016.09.06       S00W27            
S5431 2016.09.06       N32W46            
S5432 2016.09.07       N04W00          
S5433 2016.09.07   3 1 N05E46 0004   AXX  
S5434 2016.09.08   3 2 N08W06 0009   BXO    
Total spot count: 19 57 29  
Sunspot number: 49 117 89  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 29 73 45  (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): 54 64 71 k * (sunspot number)
As of May 7, 2016: k = 1.1 for SWPC, k = 0.55 for MSN 2K, k = 0.80 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
2015.06 122.3 126.1 66.5 72.1 (-4.0) 13.15
2015.07 107.0 110.8 65.8 68.3 (-3.8) 8.83
2015.08 105.4 108.0 64.4 66.4 (-1.9) 14.58
2015.09 101.7 102.7 78.6 65.9 (-0.5) 15.78
2015.10 104.1 103.3 63.6 64.3 (-1.6) 14.02
2015.11 109.3 106.9 62.2 61.3 (-3.0) 12.09
2015.12 113.1 109.5 58.0 57.8 (-3.5) 14.29
2016.01 103.4 100.1 57.0 54.5 (-3.3) 9.4
2016.02 103.6 101.0 56.4 52.6 (-1.9) 9.9
2016.03 91.5 90.6 54.1 (50.7 projected, -1.9) 10.58
2016.04 93.3 94.0 38.0 (48.2 projected, -2.5) 9.03
2016.05 93.0 95.3 52.1 (45.5 projected, -2.7) 11.65
2016.06 81.9 84.5 20.9 (42.9 projected, -2.6) 8.44
2016.07 86.0 88.9 32.5 (40.2 projected, -2.7) 9.43
2016.08 85.0 87.1 50.7 (37.4 projected, -2.8) 9.4
2016.09 (95.0)   12.5 (2A) / 46.8 (2B) / 54.1 (2C) (34.7 projected, -2.7) (19.9)

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.