Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Last major update issued on May 8, 2004 at 02:55 UTC.

[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated daily)]
[Solar wind and electron fluence charts (updated daily)]
[Solar cycles 21-23 (last update May 3, 2004)]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22 and 23 (last update May 3, 2004)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 2, 10, 13, 17, 20 and 23 (last update May 3, 2004)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2004 (last update April 28, 2004)]
[Archived reports (last update April 30, 2004)]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to active on May 7. Solar wind speed ranged between 447 and 564 km/sec under the influence of a high speed stream from coronal hole CH94.

Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 85.2. The planetary A index was 17 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 17.4).
Three hour interval K indices: 34423432 (planetary), 44423423 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class A6 level.

At midnight there were 3 spotted regions on the visible disk. The solar flare activity level was low. A single C class event was recorded during the day.

Region 10605 decayed further and lost all spots outside of the single penumbra. Flare: C1.0 at 14:03 UTC. This event may have been associated with a faint CME.
New region 10606 rotated into view at the southeast limb. There is not much separating the opposite polarity fields and the region could produce C flares.

Spotted regions not numbered by NOAA/SEC:
[S400] This region emerged in the southeast quadrant on May 7. Location at midnight: S11E26.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

May 5-6: No fully or partly Earth directed CME observed.
May 7: A faint halo CME was observed in LASCO images after 15h UTC. This CME may have been associated with a C1 event in region 10605.

Coronal holes

Coronal hole history (since late October 2002)
Compare today's report with the situation one solar rotation ago: 28 days ago 27 days ago 26 days ago

A trans equatorial coronal hole (CH94) was in a geoeffective position on May 1-4. A coronal hole in the northeast quadrant is probably located too far to the north to become geoeffective.

Processed SOHO/EIT 284 image at 19:05 UTC on May 7. The darkest areas on the solar disk are likely coronal holes.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on May 8 and mostly quiet on May 9. A weak CME could arrive during the latter half of May 10 and cause a slight increase in geomagnetic activity.

Coronal holes (1) Coronal mass ejections (2) M and X class flares (3)
Coronal hole indicator CME indicator M and X class flare indicator

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) Material from a CME is likely to impact Earth within 96 hours.
3) There is a possibility of either M or X class flares within the next 48 hours.

Green: 0-20% probability, Yellow: 20-60% probability, Red: 60-100% probability.

Propagation

Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along east-west paths over high and upper middle latitudes is very poor. Propagation along long distance north-south paths is fair. Trans Atlantic propagation conditions are monitored every night on 1470 kHz. Dominant stations tonight: From 23:30 UTC and for about one hour several stations from Brazil were observed with Rádio Papacaça having the best signal, then Radio Cristal del Uruguay dominated for nearly one hour. After 01:30 UTC Radio Vibración has been the best, however, CPN Radio (Perú) is slowly getting stronger].

Active solar regions (Recent map)

Compare to the previous day's image.

Data for all numbered solar regions according to the Solar Region Summary provided by NOAA/SEC. 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 SEC or where SEC has observed no spots. SEC active region numbers in the table below and in the active region map above are the historic SEC/USAF numbers.

Active region Date numbered SEC
spot
count
STAR
spot
count
Location at midnight Area Classification Comment
10604 2004.05.03 2   S18W02 0010 BXO became spotless late
in the day
10605 2004.05.04 1 1 S12W45 0050 HSX  
10606 2004.05.07 1 3 S09E81 0120 HSX classification was HAX
at midnight
S399 emerged on
2004.05.06
    S16W25     plage
S400 emerged on
2004.05.07
  3 S11E26 0010 BXO  
Total spot count: 4 7
SSN: 34 37

Monthly solar cycle data

Month Average solar
flux at Earth
International sunspot number Smoothed sunspot number
2000.04 184.2 125.5 120.8
cycle 23 sunspot max.
2000.07 202.3 170.1 119.8
2001.12 235.1 132.2 114.6 (-0.9)
2003.04 126.4 60.0 70.1 (-3.9)
2003.05 115.7 55.2 67.6 (-2.5)
2003.06 129.3 77.4 65.0 (-2.6)
2003.07 127.7 83.3 61.8 (-3.2)
2003.08 122.1 72.7 60.0 (-1.8)
2003.09 112.2 48.7 59.5 (-0.5)
2003.10 151.7 65.5 58.1 (-1.4)
2003.11 140.8 67.3 (56.5 predicted, -1.6)
2003.12 114.9 46.5 (53.5 predicted, -3.0)
2004.01 114.1 37.2 (49.1 predicted, -4.4)
2004.02 107.0 46.0 (44.8 predicted, -4.3)
2004.03 112.0 48.9 (42.1 predicted, -2.7)
2004.04 101.2 39.3 (40.0 predicted, -2.1)
2004.05 90.1 (1) 10.6 (2) (36.8 predicted, -3.2)

1) Running average based on the daily 20:00 UTC observed solar flux value at 2800 MHz.
2) Unofficial, accumulated value based on the Boulder (NOAA/SEC) sunspot number. The official international sunspot number is typically 30-50% less.

This report has been prepared by Jan Alvestad. It is based partly on my own observations and analysis, and partly on data from some of these solar data sources. All time references are to the UTC day. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.


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