Last major update issued on September 14, 2014 at 05:20 UTC.
[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated
daily)]
[Solar wind and
electron fluence charts (updated
daily)]
[Solar cycles 23-24 (last update September 1, 2014)] [Cycle
24 progress (last update September 1, 2014) ]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last
update September 1, 2014)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and
24 (last update September 1, 2014)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006
(last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update
September 6, 2014)]
[POES auroral activity level October
2009 - December 2012]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated
September 6, 2014]
[Presentations:
3rd
SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf)
/
4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014]
The geomagnetic field was quiet to major storm on September 12. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 373 and 728 km/s. A strong solar wind shock with solar wind speed increasing abruptly from 404 to 655 km/sec was observed at SOHO at 15:26 UTC, the arrival of the September 10 CME. The interplanetary magnetic field was at times strongly southwards after the CME arrival, after 23h UTC the IMF has been strongly northwards.
Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 152 (increasing 40 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 133.0. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 36 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 35.5). Three hour interval K indices: 54222556 (planetary), 54232536 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class B7 level.
At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 11 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 264) and 10 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 188) SDO images on the visible solar disk.
Region 12155 [S20W45] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12157 [S14W33] could again be forming a magnetic delta structure
in the southern part of the largest penumbra. C and minor M class flaring is possible.
Region 12158 [N16W25] decayed as the largest penumbra fragmented further.
The region was mostly quiet.
Region 12163 [S16W03] displayed only minor changes and was quiet.
Region 12164 [S13E16] gained several spots and was quiet.
Region 12165 [S08E50] was quiet and stable.
New region 12166 [N13E72] rotated into view. The plage area is large,
however, the region must have decayed significantly over the last days as there
are only small spots left.
Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S3808 [S13W78] developed further and was quiet.
S3811 [S23W10] was quiet and stable.
S3816 [S08E25] was quiet and stable.
S3817 [N10E29] was quiet and stable.
A filament eruption started near the central meridian at 17:58 UTC. A near simultaneous event occurred on the solar backside and was the most likely source of a CME that was visible from 18:36 UTC in LASCO imagery over the north pole and the northern limbs.
| Magnitude | Peak time (UTC) | Location | AR | Comment |
| C9.5/1F | 02:07 | S16W20 | 12157 | |
| C3.2 (LDE) | 08:24 | 12158 | ||
| C2.5 | 18:45 | 12157 | ||
| C3.3 | 20:05 | 12157 |
September 10: A large and wide Earth directed asymmetric full halo CME
was observed after the X1 event in AR 12158.
September 11-12: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO and
STEREO imagery.
[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.
Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over upper middle latitudes is very poor. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to major storm on September 13 due to CME effects. Quiet to unsettled conditions are likely on September 14-15.
| 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.
(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 | ||||||||||
| 12155 | 2014.09.03 | 3 | 6 | 2 | S19W48 | 0010 | BXO | AXX |
 |
 |
location: S20W45 |
| 12157 | 2014.09.03 2014.09.04 |
53 | 35 | 23 | S14W38 | 0250 | EKC | EAC |
 |
 |
beta-gamma location: S14W33 |
| 12156 | 2014.09.03 2014.09.04 |
N15W55 | plage | ||||||||
| 12158 | 2014.09.04 | 20 | 39 | 26 | N16W25 | 0400 | DKC | DAC |
 |
 |
beta-gamma |
| 12159 | 2014.09.05 | S21W23 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| 12162 | 2014.09.05 2014.09.06 |
N10W85 |
plage |
||||||||
| S3799 | 2014.09.05 | S04W56 | plage | ||||||||
| 12163 | 2014.09.06 2014.09.07 |
2 | 12 | 6 | S16W03 | 0060 | CAO | CAO |
 |
 |
|
| S3808 | 2014.09.08 | 7 | 4 | S13W78 | 0080 | DAO |
 |
 |
|||
| S3811 | 2014.09.09 | 10 | 4 | S23W10 | 0015 | BXO |
 |
 |
|||
| 12164 | 2014.09.09 2014.09.11 |
3 | 23 | 13 | S13E14 | 0020 | CRO | DRI |
 |
 |
area: 0080 |
| S3813 | 2014.09.09 | N15E07 | plage | ||||||||
| S3814 | 2014.09.09 | N13W37 | plage | ||||||||
| 12165 | 2014.09.10 2014.09.11 |
4 | 9 | 4 | S08E49 | 0020 | CRO | CRO |
 |
 |
|
| S3816 | 2014.09.11 | 4 | 3 | S08E25 | 0010 | BXO |
 |
 |
|||
| S3817 | 2014.09.11 | 4 | N10E29 | 0006 | BXO |
 |
 |
||||
| 12166 | 2014.09.12 | 2 | 5 | 3 | N12E66 | 0030 | AXX | CRO |
 |
location: N13E72 | |
| Total spot count: | 87 | 154 | 88 | ||||||||
| Sunspot number: | 157 | 264 | 188 | (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions) | |||||||
| Weighted SN: | 118 | 183 | 117 | (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): | 94 | 92 | 103 | k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC, k = 0.35 for MSN 2K, k = 0.55 for MSN 1K (MSN=Magnetic Sunspot Number) | |||||||
| Month | Average solar flux | International sunspot number (WDC-SILSO) |
Smoothed sunspot number | Average ap (3) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measured | 1 AU | ||||
| 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) | 78.4 (+1.1) | 10.70 |
| 2014.03 | 149.9 | 148.5 | 91.9 | (80.3 projected, +1.9) | 4.88 |
| 2014.04 | 143.9 | 144.8 | 84.7 | (81.0 projected, +0.7) | 7.88 |
| 2014.05 | 129.7 | 132.9 | 75.2 | (79.2 projected, -1.8) | 5.75 |
| 2014.06 | 122.0 | 125.8 | 71.0 | (76.6 projected, -2.6) | 6.72 |
| 2014.07 | 137.4 | 141.8 | 72.5 | (73.6 projected, -3.0) | 4.50 |
| 2014.08 | 124.7 | 127.9 | 74.7 | (70.1 projected, -3.5) | 7.71 |
| 2014.09 | 148.8 (1) | 56.3 (2A) / 140.8 (2B) / 82.5 (2C) | (65.9 projected, -4.2) | (9.4) | |
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.
