Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on September 25, 2015 at 05:45 UT.

Charts (* = updated daily) Data and archive
  Solar wind (*) Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (*)
  Electron fluence (*) Archived daily reports and monthly data from 2003.01 (September 1, 2015)
Solar cycle Solar cycles 23-24 (September 1, 2015) Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (April 5, 2007)
  Cycle 24 progress (September 1, 2015) Noon SDO sunspot count 1K Reference: 4K (large file) (*)
  Solar cycles 1-24 (July 17, 2015) POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012
  Comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (September 1, 2015) 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013
  Comparison of cycles 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (September 1, 2015) 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014
  Solar polar fields vs solar cycles (September 16, 2015)  

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on September 24. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 399 and 510 km/s. Solar wind speed increased slowly towards the end of the day. Solar wind temperature increased to a level often seen during high speed coronal hole streams, however, as I write this it is still uncertain if we are inside the stream from CH691.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 106.8 (decreasing 2.3 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 105.6. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 6 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 6.5). Three hour interval K indices: 32211122 (planetary), 34212222 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B3 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 10 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 225) and 9 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 158) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12418 [S15W75] was quiet and stable.
Region 12420 [N10E20] was quiet and stable.
Region 12421 [N15E06] developed significantly during the latter half of the day as new flux emerged. A small magnetic delta formed in the north. Further C flares are likely, Should the region continue to develop there will be a chance of minor M class flaring.
Region 12422 [S20E26] gained spots and penumbral area as slow development continues. C flares are likely and a minor M class flare is possible.
Region 12423 [S09W23] developed slowly and quietly.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4766 [N17W21] was quiet and stable.
S4772 [S13W46] reemerged with penumbra spots.
S4778 [S05E13] developed slowly and quietly.
New region S4779 [N17E62] emerged with several spots.
New region S4780 [N30E49] emerged with a few spots.

A bipolar region was observed at N46E33 at midnight, however, the spots were too diffuse to be counted.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR Recorded by Comment
C3.3 23:47 N15E04 12421 GOES15  

Flare activity (SDO/EVE/ESP XRS-B proxy)

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

September 22-24: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in available LASCO 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 trans equatorial coronal hole (CH691) rotated across the central meridian on September 21-22.

Propagation

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.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on September 25 due to effects from CH691 and quiet to unsettled on September 26-27.

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 overlays
Comment
SWPC Magnetic
(SDO)
SWPC STAR Current Previous
2K 1K
12418 2015.09.12
2015.09.13
2 2 2 S16W77 0140 HAX HAX area: 0230
12419 2015.09.13
2015.09.15
      N13W74            
S4761 2015.09.16       N23W58            
S4766 2015.09.18   8 2 N17W21 0014   BXO images/AR_S4766_20150924_2345.png images/AR_S4766_20150923_2345.png  
S4767 2015.09.18       S27W44            
12420 2015.09.19
2015.09.20
19 41 23 N09E22 0200 EAI EAI area: 0320
12421 2015.09.20
2015.09.22
5 23 14 N15E05 0050 CAI DRI beta-gamma-delta
S4772 2015.09.20   3   S13W46 0004   AXX    
S4773 2015.09.21       S18W11            
12423 2015.09.21
2015.09.23
1 5 3 S08W24 0010 CRO CRO location: S09W23

area: 0025

12422 2015.09.22 9 31 17 S20E24 0150 DAI EAI beta-gamma

area: 0270

location: S20E26

S4776 2015.09.22       S14W30            
S4778 2015.09.23   7 2 S05E13 0022   DRO  
S4779 2015.09.24   4 4 N17E62 0020   DRO    
S4780 2015.09.24   2 1 N30E49 0006   BXO    
Total spot count: 36 125 68  
Sunspot number: 86 225 158  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 59 152 95  (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): 95 124 134 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)

Monthly solar cycle data

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
2014.05 129.7 132.9 112.5 115.0 (-1.4) 5.75
2014.06 122.0 125.8 102.9 114.1 (-0.9) 6.72
2014.07 137.4 141.8 100.2 112.6 (-1.5) 4.50
2014.08 124.7 127.9 106.9 108.3 (-4.3) 7.71
2014.09 146.6 148.1 130.0 101.9 (-6.4) 9.78
2014.10 153.4 152.9 90.0 97.4 (-4.5) 8.96
2014.11 154.8 151.4 103.6 95.0 (-2.4) 9.33
2014.12 158.7 153.8 112.9 92.6 (-2.4) 11.24
2015.01 141.9 137.3 93.0 89.8 (-2.8) 9.46
2015.02 129.1 126.0 66.7 86.6 (-3.2) 9.92
2015.03 125.9 124.6 54.5 (82.1 projected, -4.5) 16.14
2015.04 128.8 129.7 78.0 (78.0 projected, -4.1) 10.73
2015.05 120.0 122.6 90.0 (75.3 projected, -2.7) 8.29
2015.06 122.3 126.1 68.3 (71.6 projected, -3.7) 13.15
2015.07 107.0 110.8 66.4 (67.9 projected, -3.7) 8.83
2015.08 105.4 108.0 64.6 (66.7 projected, -1.2) 14.58
2015.09 (95.8)   47.3 (2A) / 59.1 (2B) / 74.1 (2C) (67.0 projected, +0.3) (18.7)

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.