Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on November 3, 2014 at 05:50 UTC.

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

[Noon SDO sunspot count 1K Reference: 4K (large file) (updated daily)]

[POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated October 11, 2014]
[Presentations: 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf) / 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on November 2. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 439 and 525 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 124.4 (decreasing 5.6 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 141.7. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 9 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 9.1). Three hour interval K indices: 22113331 (planetary), 11013421 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B5 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 11 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 192) and 9 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 137) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12195 [N07W76] was quiet and stable.
Region 12197 [S16W48] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12199 [S15W14] was quiet and stable.
Region 12200 [S17E09] was quiet and stable.
Region 12201 [S05E23] decayed slowly and became less complex magnetically.
Region 12202 [N11W21] decayed slowly and was quiet.
Region 12203 [N11W04] developed slowly and quietly.
Region 12204 [N05E39] was quiet and stable.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S3957 [S21E29] was quiet and stable.
New region S3958 [N06E15] emerged with a few spots.
New region S3959 [N08E06] was observed with a penumbra spot.

C2+ flares (GOES):

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR Comment
C3.5 17:03   12201  
C9.4 21:05 NE limb   CME

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

October 31 - November 2: 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]

No obvious coronal holes are currently in or near Earth facing positions.

Propagation

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

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly quiet on November 3-5.

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
12195 2014.10.21
2014.10.22
1 1 1 N07W76 0020 HRX HAX  
12197 2014.10.23
2014.10.24
  1   S12W52 0003   AXX location: S16W48
12196 2014.10.23
2014.10.24
      S05W52         plage
S3941 2014.10.27       S18W36         plage
12198 2014.10.27
2014.10.28
      S13W87           plage
12200 2014.10.28
2014.10.30
2 7 3 S16E06 0010 AXX CRO area: 0030
12199 2014.10.29
2014.10.30
  2   S17W19 0003   AXX location: S15W14
S3948 2014.10.29       S10W17           plage
12201 2014.10.29
2014.10.30
7 17 10 S05E23 0050 CAI DRI

 

12202 2014.10.29
2014.10.30
7 16 10 N12W23 0050 CAO CAI area: 0070
S3951 2014.10.29       S22W48           plage
S3952 2014.10.30       N13E17         plage
12204 2014.10.31
2014.11.01
5 14 9 N05E39 0030 CRO DRO  
12203 2014.10.31
2014.11.01
9 16 9 N11W04 0150 DAO DAI

area: 0350

S3957 2014.11.01   3 1 S21E29 0006   AXX  
S3958 2014.11.02   4 3 N06E15 0016   CRO    
S3959 2014.11.02   1 1 N08E06 0003   AXX    
Total spot count: 31 82 47  
Sunspot number: 91 192 137  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 54 109 74  (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): 55 67 75 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
2013.07 115.5 119.3 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) 78.4 (+1.1) 10.70
2014.03 149.9 148.5 91.9 80.8 (+2.4) 4.88
2014.04 143.9 144.8 84.7 81.9 (+1.1)
(likely solar max)
7.88
2014.05 129.7 132.9 75.2 (80.3 projected, -1.6) 5.75
2014.06 122.0 125.8 71.0 (78.7 projected, -1.6) 6.72
2014.07 137.4 141.8 72.5 (77.1 projected, -1.6) 4.50
2014.08 124.7 127.9 74.7 (74.7 projected, -3.0) 7.71
2014.09 146.6 148.1 87.6 (71.5 projected, -3.2) 9.78
2014.10 153.4 152.9 60.6 (69.0 projected, -2.5) 8.6
2014.11 121.7 (1)   5.8 (2A) / 86.5 (2B) / 78.9 (2C) (67.3 projected, -1.7) (7.2)

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.