Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on July 26, 2017 at 04:45 UT.

Charts (* = updated daily) Data and archive
  Solar wind (*) Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (*)
  Electron fluence (*) Archived daily reports and monthly data since 2003.01 (July 1, 2017)
Solar cycle Solar cycles 23-24 (July 1, 2017) Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (April 5, 2007)
  Cycle 24 progress (July 1, 2017) 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 (July 1, 2017) 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013
  Comparison of cycles 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (July 1, 2017) 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014
  Solar polar fields vs. solar cycles (July 16, 2017)  

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on July 25, first under the influence of a high speed stream from CH815, then during the second half of the day from CH816. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 521 and 592 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 69.8 (decreasing 2.3 over the previous solar rotation). The average 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 77.8. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 9 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 8.9). Three hour interval K indices: 21223223 (planetary), 22333423 (Boulder)

The background x-ray flux is at the class A3 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 2 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 27) and in 1 active region using 1K resolution (SN: 12) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

New region 12668 [N03W27] was first observed with spots on July 19. The region developed slowly on July 25 when it was numbered by SWPC.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
New region S5746 [N06E53] was quiet and stable.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UT) Location AR Recorded by Comment
           

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

July 23-25: 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 poorly defined trans equatorial coronal hole (CH816) rotated across the central meridian on July 21-22. A recurrent southern hemisphere coronal hole (CH817) will likely rotate into an Earth facing position on July 28.

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 July 26 and quiet on July 27-28.

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
12668 2017.07.19
2017.07.24
2 3 2 N03W28 0010 AXX CRO  
S5742 2017.07.20       N13W20            
S5743 2017.07.20       N28W25            
S5745 2017.07.23       N20W27          
S5746 2017.07.25   4   N06E53 0004   AXX    
Total spot count: 2 7 2  
Sunspot number: 12 27 12  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 2 10 5  (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): 13 15 10 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
2016.03 91.5 90.6 54.1 50.5 (-2.0) 10.58
2016.04 93.3 94.0 38.0 47.8 (-2.7) 9.03
2016.05 93.0 95.3 52.1 44.9 (-2.9) 11.65
2016.06 81.9 84.5 20.9 41.6 (-3.3) 8.44
2016.07 86.0 88.9 32.5 38.6 (-3.0) 9.43
2016.08 85.0 87.1 50.7 36.0 (-2.6) 9.61
2016.09 87.7 88.7 44.7 33.3 (-2.7) 14.54
2016.10 86.1 85.6 33.6 31.4 (-1.9) 15.33
2016.11 78.6 76.9 21.4 29.9 (-1.5) 9.11
2016.12 75.1 72.8 18.9 28.5 (-1.4) 9.34
2017.01 77.3 74.9 25.8 (27.7 projected, -0.8) 9.45
2017.02 76.8 75.0 26.1 (25.8 projected, -1.9) 9.58
2017.03 74.6 73.9 17.7 (23.2 projected, -2.6) 14.20
2017.04 80.3 80.8 32.6 (21.1 projected, -2.0) 11.70
2017.05 73.6 75.2 18.8 (20.0 projected, -1.1) 8.09
2017.06 74.7 77.1 19.4 (19.0 projected, -1.0) 6.08
2017.07 (79.2)    13.8 (2A) / 17.2 (2B) / 18.7 (2C) (17.9 projected, -1.1) (9.5)

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.