Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on July 9, 2022 at 09:00 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 6, 2022)
Solar cycle Solar cycles 23-25 (July 1, 2022) Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (April 5, 2007)
  Cycle 24-25 progress (July 1, 2022) Noon SDO sunspot count 1K image / 4K (*)
  Solar cycles 1-24 (July 1, 2020) POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012]
  Comparison of cycles 21-25 (July 1, 2022) 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013
  Comparison of cycles 12-14, 16, 24-25 (July 1, 2022) 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014
  Solar polar fields vs. solar cycles (April 10, 2022) Cycle 25 spots (final update December 25, 2019)
  Solar cycles 24-25 transition using 365d smoothing Research: Solar Cycle 25 Started on November 17, 2019 with 365 Days Smoothing

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to minor storm on July 8 under the influence of CME effects. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 323 and 452 km/sec. The high latitude magnetometer at Andenes recorded quiet to minor storm levels.

Solar flux density measured at 20h UT on 2.8 GHz was 129.6 - increasing 17.5 over the previous solar rotation. (Centered 1 year average SF at 1 AU - 183 days ago: 103.39). The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 21 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 20.9). Three hour interval K indices: 55333232 (planetary), 54333222 (Boulder), 55333332 (Andenes).

The background x-ray flux is at the class C1 level (GOES 16).

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 10 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 230) and in 7 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 129) SDO/HMI images.

Region 13046 [N17W29] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 13049 [S15W08] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 13051 [N28W22] developed slowly and was mostly quiet. C1 flares: C1.0 @ 04:01, C1.3 @ 14:21 UT
Region 13052 [N15E13] decayed slowly and was mostly quiet. C1 flare: C1.5 @ 11:25 UT
Region 13053 [N14E33] gained spots and produced a long duration M class event associated with a full halo CME. Further M class flaring is possible as there is still polarity intermixing. C1 flares: C1.0 @ 03:38, C1.6 @ 19:08 UT
Region 13054 [N20W54] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 13055 [S18E48] developed further gaining area and spots. There is a chance for an M class flare. C1 flares: C1.4 @ 01:10, C1.2 @ 13:48, C1.0 @ 15:38 UT

Spotted regions not observed (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S7686 [S27W15] reemerged with tiny spots.
S7690
[S20E22] was quiet and stable.
New region S7691 [N19E58] emerged with tiny spots in an old plage area.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UT) Location Source Recorded by Comment
M2.5 20:49 N17E37 13055 GOES16 LDE, asymmetric full halo CME

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

July 6-7: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in available LASCO imagery.
July 8: An asymmetric full halo was observed in LASCO imagery after the M2.5 LDE in AR 13053 peaking at 20:49 UT. The CME could reach Earth on July 11.

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 small, poorly defined northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH1087) could rotate into an Earth facing position on July 9-10.

Propagation

Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over upper middle and high latitudes is poor. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor to fair.

Forecast

Quiet conditions are likely on July 9-10. Quiet to minor storm conditions are possible on July 11-12 due to CME effects.

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 officially numbered solar regions according to the Solar Region Summary provided by NOAA/SWPC, all other regions are numbered sequentially as they emerge using the STAR spot number. 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. SWPC data considered to be not sufficiently precise (location, area, classification) are colored red.

Active region SWPC date numbered
STAR detected
Spot count Location at midnight Area Classification SDO / HMI 4K continuum
image with magnetic polarity overlays
Comment
SWPC/
USAF
Magnetic
(SDO)
SWPC STAR Current Previous
2K 1K
13045 2022.06.28
2022.06.30
                  location: S10W76
13046 2022.06.30
2022.07.01
3 8 5 N17W31 0080 HSX CAO

location: N17W29

13047 2022.06.30
2022.07.02
      S20W73        

location: S18W68

13048 2022.07.01
2022.07.02
      S13W47            
13049 2022.07.01
2022.07.03
  5 1 S12W21 0009   BXO location: S15W08
S7671 2022.07.01       S32W56            
13051 2022.07.02
2022.07.04
5 11 7 N28W26 0080 CAO DAO area: 0100

location: N28W22

13050 2022.07.02
2022.07.04
      N18W26            
13052 2022.07.04
2022.07.05
2 16 5 N15E14 0020 HRX CRO area: 0035
S7678 2022.07.04       S15W43            
13053 2022.07.04
2022.07.05
13 50 28 N15E35 0700 EKO EKI beta-gamma

location: N14E33

S7680 2022.07.04       S32W30            
S7681 2022.07.05       S30W39            
13054 2022.07.05
2022.07.06
  1   N21W54 0001   AXX location: N20W54
S7685 2022.07.05       S13E28            
S7686 2022.07.05   4   S27W15 0005   BXO    
13055 2022.07.06
2022.07.07
8 27 12 S17E46 0230 DAI ESI area: 0370

location: S18E48

S7688 2022.07.07       N17W05            
S7689 2022.07.07       N21W15          
S7690 2022.07.07   5   S20E22 0005   AXX  
S7691 2022.07.08   3 1 N19E58 0005   BXO    
Total spot count: 31 130 59  
Sunspot number: 81 230 129  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 59 158 87  (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): 89 127 103  

Monthly solar cycle data

Month Average solar flux International sunspot number
(WDC-SILSO)
Smoothed sunspot number (4) Average ap
(3)
Measured 1 AU
2014.02 170.3
(cycle peak)
166.3 146.1 (SC24 peak) 110.5 10.70
2014.04 143.9 144.8 112.5 116.4 (solar max) 7.88
2017.09 91.3 92.3 43.6 18.2 (-1.3) 18.22
(cycle peak)
2019.11 70.2 68.7 0.5 2.0 (-0.6)
(Solar minimum using 365d smoothing:
November 17, 2019)
4.19
2019.12 70.8 68.6 1.6 1.8 (-0.2)
(ISN 13 months smoothed
solar minimum)
3.22
2020.12 86.9 84.2 23.1 15.3 (+1.7) 4.72
2021.01 76.0 73.6 10.4 17.3 (+2.0) 4.39
2021.02 74.3 72.4 8.2 19.0 (+1.7) 9.50
2021.03 76.0 75.2 17.2 21.7 (+2.7) 10.17
2021.04 75.9 76.4 24.5 24.8 (+3.1) 8.40
2021.05 75.3 77.1 21.2 25.8 (+1.0) 6.50
2021.06 79.4 81.8 25.0 27.6 (+1.8) 5.52
2021.07 81.0 83.6 34.3 31.3 (+3.7) 5.51
2021.08 77.7 79.7 22.0 35.3 (+4.0) 6.19
2021.09 87.0 88.2 51.3 40.0 (+4.7) 6.33
2021.10 88.9 88.3 37.4 45.0 (+5.0) 7.38
2021.11 86.2 84.4 34.8 50.6 (+5.6) 9.83
2021.12 103.0 99.8 67.5 55.7 (+5.1) 6.40
2022.01 103.8 100.5 54.0 (59.5 projected, +3.8) 8.92
2022.02 109.1 106.5 59.7 (65.1 projected, +5.6) 10.46
2022.03 117.0 115.8 78.5 (70.5 projected, +5.4) 10.20
2022.04 130.8 131.7 84.1 (75.7 projected, +5.2) 11.79
2022.05 133.8 136.8 96.5 (82.2 projected, +6.5) 7.48
2022.06 116.1 119.8 70.6 (88.1 projected, +5.9) 8.4
2022.07 110.0 (1)   18.6 (2A) / 72.0 (2B) / 105.5 (2C) (95.3 projected, +7.2) (11.5)
2022.08       (101.9 projected, +6.6)  
2022.09       (106.9 projected, +5.0)  
2022.10       (110.1 projected, +3.2)  
2022.11       (112.9 projected, +2.8)  
2022.12       (117.7 projected, +4.8)  
2023.11       (141.4 projected max SC25)  

1) Running average based on the daily 20:00 UTC observed solar flux value at 2800 MHz and any corrections applied to that measurement.
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) Source: SIDC-SILSO.

Solar cycles 24-25

Smoothed SF and sunspot numbers

 

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.