Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on July 20, 2014 at 05:30 UTC.

[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated daily)]
[Solar wind and electron fluence charts (updated daily)]
[Solar cycles 23-24 (last update July 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 July 1, 2014)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (last update July 1, 2014)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update July 5, 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 July 19. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 276 and 312 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 86.1 (decreasing 8.1 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 135.1. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 1 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 1.4). Three hour interval K indices: 00010000 (planetary), 10021211 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B2 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 5 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 72) and 4 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 43) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12118 [N07W42] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12119 [S22E02] developed slowly and was quiet.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S3644 [S16W15] was quiet and stable.
S3652 [N16W15] was quiet and stable.
New region S3653 [N25W31] was observed with a penumbra spot.

C2+ Flares (GOES):

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR
       

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

July 17-19: 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 recurrent southern hemisphere coronal hole (CH627) could rotate into an Earth facing position on July 20-21.

Coronal hole map

Propagation

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

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on July 20-23. On July 24-25 there's a chance of a few unsettled intervals should a stream from CH627 reach Earth.

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
12114 2014.07.07
2014.07.08
      S19W84           plage

location: S19W76

12116 2014.07.08
2014.07.10
      S28W80           plage
S3640 2014.07.14       S19W51           plage
S3644 2014.07.15   2   S16W15 0003   AXX  
12118 2014.07.17
2014.07.18
2 3 1 N06W44 0010 HRX HRX location: N07W42
S3647 2014.07.17       N16W27           plage
S3648 2014.07.17       N11W35           plage
12119 2014.07.18 5 13 10 S21W00 0020 CRO DAO area: 0070
S3652 2014.07.18   3 2 N16W15 0009   CRO  
S3653 2014.07.19   1   N25W31 0001   AXX    
Total spot count: 7 22 13  
Sunspot number: 27 72 43  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 13 33 20  (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): 16 25 24 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
2013.02 104.3 101.8 38.0 58.4 (-0.3) 6.11
2013.03 111.3 110.2 57.9 57.5 (-0.9) 10.56
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 (78.2 projected, +2.2) 5.44
2014.02 170.3
(cycle peak)
166.3 102.3 (cycle peak) (79.7 projected, +1.5) 10.70
2014.03 149.9 148.5 91.9 (80.5 projected, +0.8) 4.88
2014.04 143.9 144.8 84.7 (79.7 projected, -0.8) 7.88
2014.05 129.7 132.9 75.2 (77.1 projected, -2.6) 5.75
2014.06 122.0 125.8 71.0 (74.5 projected, -2.6) 6.72
2014.07 150.5 (1)   80.6 (2A) / 131.5 (2B) / 85.1 (2C) (71.5 projected, -3.0) (4.5)

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.