Last major update issued on November 21, 2011 at 03:45 UTC.
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The geomagnetic field was very quiet on November 20. Solar wind speed ranged between 270 and 345 km/s.
Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 139.9 (decreasing 5.4 over the last solar rotation). The planetary A index was 2 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 1.6). Three hour interval K indices: 00000111 (planetary), 00001111 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class B6 level.
At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 9 spotted regions (in 2K resolution SDO images).
Region 11346 [S17W41] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11350 [N29W10] was quiet and stable.
Region 11352 [S23E15] decayed slowly and was quiet.
Region 11353 [N08E33] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11354 [S14E32] was fairly active during the day and lost a few
spots and some penumbral area.
Flares: C2.1 at 06:26, C4.8 at 07:41,
C3.0/1F at 11:55, C1.0 at 16:15, C6.1/1F at 16:47 UTC
Region 11355 [N15E47] added some penumbral area and was quiet.
Region 11356 [N16E70] rotated fully into view revealing a magnetic delta
structure in a central penumbra.
An M class flare is possible.
Flare: C1.8 at 13:32 UTC
New region 11357 [N19W17] emerged in the northeast quadrant on Nov.17 and
was numbered by SWPC 3 days later. Currently it appears as if the region should
be split as there are two sets of spots and magnetic fields.
Flare: C1.8 at 07:22 UTC
Spotted regions not reported by NOAA/SWPC:
[S1333] emerged in the northeast quadrant on November 19. Location at
midnight: N12E22
November 18-20: No obviously Earth directed CMEs observed.
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
A poorly defined trans equatorial coronal hole (CH485) was in an Earth facing position on November 19-20.
The above coronal hole map is based on a new method where coronal holes are detected automatically. The method may need some fine tuning, however, it has significant advantages over detecting coronal holes manually. The main improvement is the ability to detect coronal holes at and just beyond the solar limbs. Early results using this method for SDO images over a span of several weeks indicate a good match between coronal holes observed over the visible disk and their extent and position at the east and west limbs. Note that the polar coronal holes are easily detected using the new method, the extent and intensity of both holes are consistent with other data sources.
Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over high and upper middle latitudes is good. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on November 21. On Nov.22-23 there's a chance of unsettled intervals due to effects from CH485.
| 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.
Click on image for higher resolution image)
Compare to the
previous day's image
When available the active region map has a coronal hole polarity overlay where red (pink) is negative and blue (blue-green) 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 overlay |
Comment | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWPC | STAR SDO | SWPC | STAR | Current | Previous | |||||
| 11346 | 2011.11.11 2011.11.12 |
3 | 10 | S18W44 | 0040 | CSO | CAO |
 |
 |
location: S17W41 |
| 11347 | 2011.11.12 2011.11.13 |
N06W50 | spotless | |||||||
| S1322 | 2011.11.13 | N10W33 | plage | |||||||
| S1323 | 2011.11.13 | N20W53 | plage | |||||||
| 11349 | 2011.11.14 | N15W81 | plage | |||||||
| 11350 | 2011.11.14 | 1 | N25W11 | 0000 | AXX |
 |
 |
location: N29W10 | ||
| 11351 | 2011.11.14 | S24W31 | region should be deleted, was the trailing spots of region 11346 | |||||||
| 11352 | 2011.11.15 2011.11.16 |
7 | 11 | S25E15 | 0120 | DSO | CSO |
 |
 |
|
| S1327 | 2011.11.16 | S25W02 |
 |
plage | ||||||
| 11354 | 2011.11.16 2011.11.17 |
12 | 27 | S17E30 | 0220 | DAI | DAI |
 |
 |
beta-gamma location: S14E32 |
| 11353 | 2011.11.16 2011.11.17 |
2 | 6 | N07E32 | 0020 | HSX | HRX |
 |
 |
location: N08E33 |
| 11355 | 2011.11.17 2011.11.18 |
1 | 9 | N14E44 | 0090 | HSX | CAO |
 |
 |
location: N15E47 area: 0250 |
| 11357 | 2011.11.17 2011.11.20 |
5 | 10 | N17W18 | 0020 | DRO | CRO |
 |
 |
location: N19W17 |
| S1332 | 2011.11.18 | N24E51 |
 |
plage | ||||||
| 11356 | 2011.11.19 | 1 | 7 | N14E63 | 0110 | HSX | DSO |
 |
 |
beta-gamma-delta area: 0450 location: N16E70 |
| S1333 | 2011.11.19 | 6 | N12E22 | 0000 | BXO |
 |
 |
|||
| S1334 | 2011.11.19 | N18E06 |
 |
plage | ||||||
| Total spot count: | 31 | 87 | ||||||||
| Sunspot number: | 101 | 177 | (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions) | |||||||
| Classification adjusted SN: | 64 | 118 | (Sum of total spot count + classification adjustment for each AR. Classification adjustment: X=0, R=3, A/S=5, H/K=10) | |||||||
| Relative sunspot number (Wolf number): | 61 | 80 | k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC. k = 0.45 (changed from 0.33 on Nov.1) for STAR SDO | |||||||
| Month | Average measured solar flux | International sunspot number (SIDC) | Smoothed sunspot number | Average ap (3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008.07 | 65.7 (SF minimum) | 0.5 | 2.8 (-0.4) | |
| 2008.12 | 69.2 | 0.8 | 1.7 (-) sunspot minimum |
3.25 |
| 2010.07 | 79.8 | 16.1 | 16.7 (+0.3) | 6.31 / 5.15 |
| 2010.08 | 79.2 | 19.6 | 17.4 (+0.7) | 8.49 / 7.77 |
| 2010.09 | 81.1 | 25.2 | 19.6 (+2.2) | 5.33 / 5.45 |
| 2010.10 | 81.6 | 23.5 | 23.2 (+3.6) | 6.07 / 6.27 |
| 2010.11 | 82.5 | 21.5 | 26.5 (+3.3) | 4.80 / 5.50 |
| 2010.12 | 84.2 | 14.4 | 28.8 (+2.3) | 3.41 / 4.35 |
| 2011.01 | 83.6 | 19.1 | 31.0 (+2.2) | 4.32 / 5.51 |
| 2011.02 | 94.6 | 29.4 | 33.4 (+2.4) | 5.41 / 6.44 |
| 2011.03 | 115.0 | 56.2 | 36.9 (+3.5) | 7.79 / 8.18 |
| 2011.04 | 112.6 | 54.4 | 41.8 (+4.9) | 9.71 / 8.83 |
| 2011.05 | 95.8 | 41.6 | (47.4 predicted, +5.6) | 9.18 / 8.94 |
| 2011.06 | 95.8 | 37.0 | (52.5 predicted, +5.1) | 8.96 / 8.06 |
| 2011.07 | 94.2 | 43.9 | (58.2 predicted, +5.7) | 9.14 / 8.16 |
| 2011.08 | 101.7 | 50.6 | (63.7 predicted, +5.5) | 8.16 / 7.26 |
| 2011.09 | 133.8 | 78.0 | (67.0 predicted, +3.3) | 12.80 / 12.27 |
| 2011.10 | 137.3 | 88.0 | (70.5 predicted, +3.5) | 7.52 |
| 2011.11 | 160.9 (1) | 92.2 (2A) / 138.3 (2B) | (74.9 predicted, +4.4) | (4.05) |
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). The
official SIDC international sunspot number is typically 30-50% lower. 2B) Month
average to date.
3) Running average based on the preliminary daily SWPC ap indices.
Values in red are based on the official NGDC
ap indices.
This report has been prepared by Jan Alvestad. It is based on analysis of data from whatever sources are available at the time the report is prepared. All time references are to the UTC day. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
SDO images are courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
