The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on December 8 under the influence of a high speed stream from CH704. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 453 and 560 km/s.
Solar flux at 18h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 105.7 (increasing 0.7 over the last solar rotation, the measurement at 20h UTC was discarded as it was flare enhanced). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 105.3. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 9 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 9.3). Three hour interval K indices: 33222113 (planetary), 43233212 (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: 148) and 8 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 113) SDO images on the visible solar disk.
Region 12462 [N10E04] was quiet and stable.
Region 12463 [S08E07] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12464 [S10E28] was quiet and stable.
Region 12465 [S04E50] was quiet and stable.
New region 12466 [S12E19] rotated into view on December 4 and was finally
split off from AR 12463 by SWPC 4 days later. The region developed on December 8
and has polarity intermixing. Further C class flaring is likely, the region was
the source of 3 C flares during the day, including a C1 event at 17:24 UT which
triggered a small filament eruptio.
Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4941 [N08W22] was quiet and stable.
New region S4949 [S04E28] emerged with a few spots.
New region S4950 [N23W29] emerged with a tiny spot.
C2+ flares:
| Magnitude | Peak time (UTC) | Location | AR | Recorded by | Comment |
| C6.7 | 19:14 | 12466 | GOES15 | incorrectly arributed to AR 12463 by SWPC | |
| C4.5 | 22:55 | S13E20 | 12466 | GOES15 |
December 6-8: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in available LASCO 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]
A large recurrent northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH704) with a very long trans equatorial extension was in an Earth facing position on December 2-8. A recurrent northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH705) will likely rotate across the central meridian on December 11-12.
Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over upper middle latitudes is poor. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor to fair.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to active on December 9-11 due to effects from CH704, occasional minor storm intervals are possible.
| 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.
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 overlays |
Comment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWPC | Magnetic (SDO) |
SWPC | STAR | Current | Previous | ||||||
| 2K | 1K | ||||||||||
| 12462 | 2015.12.02 2015.12.03 |
1 | 9 | 3 | N08E02 | 0010 | HRX | CRO |
 |
 |
area: 0020 location: N10E18 |
| 12463 | 2015.12.03 | 3 | 12 | 8 | S09E06 | 0050 | HAX | CAO |
 |
 |
location: S08E07 |
| 12466 |
2015.12.04 2015.12.08 |
8 | 18 | 11 | S13E18 | 0020 | CRO | DRI |
 |
 |
beta-gamma location: S12E19 area: 0090 |
| 12464 |
2015.12.04 2015.12.05 |
5 | 1 | S12E18 | 0010 | BXO |
 |
 |
the previous SWPC location was S12E39, current should have been S12E25 real location: S10E28 |
||
| S4941 | 2015.12.04 | 4 | 1 | N08W22 | 0006 | BXO |
 |
 |
|||
| S4942 | 2015.12.05 | N15W02 | |||||||||
| 12465 |
2015.12.06 2015.12.07 |
6 | 15 | 6 | S05E50 | 0080 | CAO | CAO |
 |
 |
area: 0160 |
| S4945 | 2015.12.06 | N10E29 | |||||||||
| S4947 | 2015.12.06 | S06W36 | |||||||||
| S4949 | 2015.12.08 | 4 | 2 | S04E28 | 0010 | CRO |
 |
||||
| S4950 | 2015.12.08 | 1 | 1 | N23W29 | 0003 | AXX |
 |
||||
| Total spot count: | 18 | 68 | 33 | ||||||||
| Sunspot number: | 58 | 148 | 113 | (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions) | |||||||
| Weighted SN: | 34 | 87 | 52 | (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): | 64 | 81 | 96 | k * (sunspot number) As of July 1, 2015: k = 1.1 for SWPC, k = 0.55 for MSN 2K, k = 0.85 for MSN 1K (MSN=Magnetic Sunspot Number) |
|||||||
| Month | Average solar flux | International sunspot number (WDC-SILSO) (4) |
Smoothed sunspot number (4) | Average
ap (3) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measured | 1 AU | ||||
| 2014.02 | 170.3 (cycle peak) |
166.3 | 146.1 (cycle peak) | 110.5 (+1.2) | 10.70 |
| 2014.04 | 143.9 | 144.8 | 112.5 | 116.4 (+2.1) (solar max) | 7.88 |
| 2014.10 | 153.4 | 152.9 | 90.0 | 97.3 (-4.6) | 8.96 |
| 2014.11 | 154.8 | 151.4 | 103.6 | 94.7 (-2.6) | 9.33 |
| 2014.12 | 158.7 | 153.8 | 112.9 | 92.2 (-2.5) | 11.24 |
| 2015.01 | 141.9 | 137.3 | 93.0 | 89.3 (-2.9) | 9.46 |
| 2015.02 | 129.1 | 126.0 | 66.7 | 86.1 (-3.2) | 9.92 |
| 2015.03 | 125.9 | 124.6 | 54.5 | 82.2 (-3.9) | 16.14 |
| 2015.04 | 128.8 | 129.7 | 75.3 | 78.9 (-3.3) | 10.73 |
| 2015.05 | 120.0 | 122.6 | 88.8 | 76.0 (-2.9) | 8.29 |
| 2015.06 | 122.3 | 126.1 | 66.5 | (72.1 projected, -3.9) | 13.15 |
| 2015.07 | 107.0 | 110.8 | 66.4 | (68.4 projected, -3.7) | 8.83 |
| 2015.08 | 105.4 | 108.0 | 64.6 | (67.2 projected, -1.2) | 14.58 |
| 2015.09 | 101.7 | 102.7 | 78.1 | (67.4 projected, +0.2) | 15.78 |
| 2015.10 | 104.1 | 103.3 | 61.7 | (66.5 projected, -0.9) | 14.02 |
| 2015.11 | 109.3 | 106.9 | 63.2 | (64.5 projected, -2.0) | 12.0 |
| 2015.12 | (98.9) | 10.1 (2A) / 39.0 (2B) / 72.0 (2C) | (62.7 projected, -1.8) | (10.8) | |
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).
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.
4) Updated to new data set from WDC-SILSO on July 1, 2015
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 Universal Time. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
SDO images are courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
