Last major update issued on July 18, 2006 at 04:35 UTC.
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geomagnetic data - last month (updated daily)]
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[Solar cycles 21-23
(last update June 7, 2006)]
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[Historical solar and
geomagnetic data charts 1954-2005 (last update March 3, 2006)]
[Archived reports (last update
July 9, 2006)]
The geomagnetic field was quiet on July 17. Solar wind speed ranged between 339 and 367 km/s (all day average 349 km/s - decreasing 11 km/s from the previous day).
Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 71.0. The planetary A index
was 4 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap
indices: 3.6).
Three hour interval K indices: 11011111 (planetary), 11111111 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class A2 level.
At midnight there was 1 spotted region on the visible solar disk. The solar flare activity level was very low. No C class events were recorded during the day.
Region 10900 developed further adding spots and penumbral area. The region is slowly becoming more complex and currently has mixed polarities in the central section. C flares are possible.
July 15-17: No partly or fully Earth directed CMEs were detected in LASCO imagery.
Coronal hole history (since late 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 locations.
Processed SOHO/EIT 284 image at 01:06 UTC on July 18. The darkest areas on the solar disk are likely coronal holes.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on July 18-20.
Coronal holes (1) | Coronal mass ejections (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: 0-20% probability, Yellow: 20-60% probability, Red: 60-100% probability.
Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along east-west paths over high and upper middle latitudes is poor. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is fair. Trans Atlantic propagation conditions are normally monitored every night on 1470 kHz. Both Radio Vibración (Venezuela) and Radio Cristal del Uruguay had occasionally good signals tonight. On other frequencies there were quite a few stations from Brazil (including a rarely heard station on 550 kHz) and Argentina (good signals from 710 Radio Diez, 950 "La 950", 1190 Radio America and 1390 Radio Universidad).
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
10900 | 2006.07.14 | 13 | 18 | S05E02 | 0040 | BXO | beta-gamma classification was DAI at midnight, area 0090 |
S668 | 2006.07.15 | S04E10 | plage | ||||
Total spot count: | 13 | 18 | |||||
SSN: | 23 | 28 |
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) |
2005.05 | 99.3 | 42.7 | 28.9 (-2.7) |
2005.06 | 93.7 | 39.3 | 28.8 (-0.1) |
2005.07 | 96.4 | 40.1 | 29.1 (+0.3) |
2005.08 | 90.5 | 36.4 | 27.4 (-1.7) |
2005.09 | 91.1 | 21.9 | 25.8 (-1.6) |
2005.10 | 77.0 | 8.5 | 25.5 (-0.3) |
2005.11 | 86.3 | 18.0 | 24.9 (-0.6) |
2005.12 | 90.7 | 41.2 | 23.0 (-1.9) |
2006.01 | 83.4 | 15.4 | (20.7 predicted, -2.3) |
2006.02 | 76.5 | 4.7 | (18.2 predicted, -2.5) |
2006.03 | 75.4 | 10.8 | (16.4 predicted, -1.8) |
2006.04 | 89.0 | 30.2 | (15.7 predicted, -0.7) |
2006.05 | 80.9 | 22.2 | (14.9 predicted, -0.8) |
2006.06 | 76.5 | 13.9 | (12.7 predicted, -2.2) |
2006.07 | 77.4 (1) | 14.2 (2) | (11.3 predicted, -1.4) |
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% lower.
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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