Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on August 10, 2014 at 03:10 UTC.

[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated daily)]
[Solar wind and electron fluence charts (updated daily)]
[Solar cycles 23-24 (last update August 1, 2014)] [Cycle 24 progress (last update July 1, 2014) ]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last update August 1, 2014)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (last update August 1, 2014)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update August 9, 2014)]

[POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated July 18, 2014]
[Presentations: 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf) / 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was very quiet on August 9. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 308 and 359 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 113 (decreasing 13.8 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 133.3. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 3 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 2.8). Three hour interval K indices: 01110010 (planetary), 12301221 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B4 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 8 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 160) and 5 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 84) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12130 [S09W82] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12132 [S19W61] decayed quickly and quietly.
Region 12134 [N09W24] decayed further and was quiet.
Region 12135 [N12E23] matured and began to decay.
New region 12137 [S18W08] was first observed with spots on August 5 with SWPC numbering the region 4 days later when new leading polarity flux emerged.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S3718 [S26E03] was quiet and stable.
S3720 [N12W06] was quiet and stable.
New region S3721 [N08E47] emerged with a penumbra spot.

C2+ Flares (GOES):

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR
C2.7 09:01 N12E34 12135

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

August 7-9: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO and STEREO 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 small trans equatorial coronal hole (CH631) was in an Earth facing position on August 9-10.

Propagation

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

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on August 10-14. There is a chance of weak effects from CH631 on August 13.

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) 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 overlay
Comment
SWPC Magnetic
(SDO)
SWPC STAR Current Previous
2K 1K
12130 2014.07.28
2014.07.29
1 1   S08W82 0010 AXX AXX area: 0003
12132 2014.07.30
2014.07.31
16 20 9 S19W61 0180 EAO DAI

location: S19W47

area: 0110

S3693 2014.07.31       S16W47            
12133 2014.08.01
2014.08.02
      N18W37           plage
12134 2014.08.01
2014.08.02
15 28 6 N08W25 0010 BXO BXI  
12136 2014.08.03
2014.08.08
1     N08W57 0010 AXX     spotless
S3703 2014.08.04       N12W04           plage
S3704 2014.08.04       N05W50           plage
12137 2014.08.05
2014.08.09
3 10 5 S19W09 0010 HRX CRO area: 0030
12135 2014.08.06 15 16 12 N12E22 0240 DSO DSO

area: 0410

S3709 2014.08.06       S15W46           plage
S3712 2014.08.06       S06E03           plage
S3713 2014.08.06       N18W51           plage
S3714 2014.08.07       S19E16           plage
S3715 2014.08.07       S19W14           plage
S3718 2014.08.08   2 1 S26E03 0008   AXX  
S3719 2014.08.08       N06W06         plage
S3720 2014.08.08   2   N12W06 0005   AXX  
S3721 2014.08.09   1   N08E47 0002   AXX    
Total spot count: 51 80 33  
Sunspot number: 111 160 83  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 64 93 46  (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): 67 56 46 k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC, k = 0.35 for MSN 2K, k = 0.55 for MSN 1K (MSN=Magnetic Sunspot Number)

Monthly solar cycle data

Month Average solar flux International sunspot number
(WDC-SILSO)
Smoothed sunspot number Average ap
(3)
Measured 1 AU
2013.04 124.8 125.9 72.4 57.9 (+0.4) 5.40
2013.05 131.4 134.3 78.7 59.9 (+2.0) 9.73
2013.06 110.1 113.7 52.5 62.6 (+2.7) 12.60
2013.07 115.5 119.3 57.0 65.5 (+2.9) 9.47
2013.08 114.6 118.3 66.0 69.0 (+3.5) 8.27
2013.09 102.6 103.7 36.9 73.1 (+4.1) 5.23
2013.10  132.1 131.2 85.6 75.0 (+1.9) 7.71
2013.11  148.3 145.1 77.6 75.4 (+0.4) 5.68
2013.12 147.7 143.1 90.3 76.0 (+0.6) 4.68
2014.01 157.4 152.4 81.8 77.3 (+1.3) 5.44
2014.02 170.3
(cycle peak)
166.3 102.3 (cycle peak) (78.1 projected, +0.8) 10.70
2014.03 149.9 148.5 91.9 (79.0 projected, +0.9) 4.88
2014.04 143.9 144.8 84.7 (78.1 projected, -0.9) 7.88
2014.05 129.7 132.9 75.2 (75.6 projected, -2.5) 5.75
2014.06 122.0 125.8 71.0 (72.9 projected, -2.7) 6.72
2014.07 137.4 141.8 72.5 (69.9 projected, -3.0) 4.5
2014.08 140.3 (1)   38.3 (2A) / 132.0 (2B) / 67.2 (2C) (66.5 projected, -3.4) (6.6)

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 WDC-SILSO international sunspot number is typically 30-50% lower. 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.

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 the UTC day. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

SDO images are courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.