Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on January 11, 2016 at 04:05 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 (January 1, 2016)
Solar cycle Solar cycles 23-24 (January 1, 2016) Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (April 5, 2007)
  Cycle 24 progress (January 1, 2016) 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 (January 1, 2016) 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013
  Comparison of cycles 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (January 1, 2016) 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014
  Solar polar fields vs. solar cycles (December 27, 2015)  

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet on January 10. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 408 and 446 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 108.9 (decreasing 15.1 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 107.8. 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: 21122122 (planetary), 12233221 (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 10 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 184) and 7 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 97) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12477 [N11W44] decayed fairly quickly and was quiet.
Region 12478 [N07W52] was quiet and stable.
Region 12480 [N02E16] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12482 [N02W34] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12483 [N17E17] developed slowly and quietly.
New region 12484 [N07E50] emerged on January 9 and was numbered the next day by SWPC as the region developed slowly.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4997 [S09W33] decayed slowly and quietly.
S5012 [N11E07] was quiet and stable.
S5019 [S21E19] was quiet and stable.
New region S5021 [S22W37] emerged with tiny spots.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UT) Location AR Recorded by Comment
           

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

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

January 8-10: 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 northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH709) rotated across the central meridian on January 9. CH709 has lost area over the last days and is closing.

Propagation

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

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on January 11. There's a chance of unsettled to active conditions on January 12-13 due to effects from CH709.

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). 4K resolution. Compare to the previous day's image.
As of December 12, 2015, the active region maps are based on image products from semi-automated sunspot counting at 4K resolution.

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
12476 2015.12.31
2016.01.01
      S09W64        

 

12477 2016.01.01 2 5 2 N12W45 0010 HSX CRO

 

12479 2016.01.01
2016.01.04
      N11W79            
S4997 2016.01.01   7   S09W33 0012   BXO images/AR_S4997_20160110_2345.png images/AR_S4997_20160109_2345.png  
12478 2016.01.02   2   N06W55 0003   AXX location: N07W52
S5004 2016.01.04       S22W52            
S5005 2016.01.05       S15E09            
12480 2016.01.06 7 27 9 N02E17 0190 ESO EHO

beta-gamma

area: 0310

12483 2016.01.07
2016.01.08
8 23 10 N17E17 0050 DAO DAO beta-gamma

area: 0280

12482 2016.01.07
2016.01.08
3 3 1 N02W36 0010 BXO BXO  
S5012 2016.01.07   6 2 N11E07 0012   BXO  
S5013 2016.01.07       S33W37            
S5015 2016.01.08       S00W45          
S5016 2016.01.08       S02W22            
12484 2016.01.09
2016.01.10
3 4 2 N05E48 0010 BXO CRO location: N07E50
S5019 2016.01.09   5   S21E19 0014   AXX  
S5020 2016.01.09       S22E12          
S5021 2016.01.10   2 1 S22W37 0005   AXX    
Total spot count: 23 84 27  
Sunspot number: 73 184 97  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 38 105 48  (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): 80 101 82 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
2014.11 154.8 151.4 103.6 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 78.8 (-3.4) 10.73
2015.05 120.0 122.6 88.8 76.0 (-2.8) 8.29
2015.06 122.3 126.1 66.5 72.0 (-4.0) 13.15
2015.07 107.0 110.8 66.4 (68.3 projected, -3.7) 8.83
2015.08 105.4 108.0 64.6 (66.3 projected, -2.0) 14.58
2015.09 101.7 102.7 78.1 (66.3 projected, +0.0) 15.78
2015.10 104.1 103.3 61.7 (65.9 projected, -0.4) 14.02
2015.11 109.3 106.9 63.2 (63.8 projected, -2.1) 12.09
2015.12 113.1 109.5 57.7 (62.1 projected, -1.7) 14.29
2016.01 (101.9)   18.2 (2A) / 56.3 (2B) / 62.1 (2C) (60.4 projected, -1.7) (8.9)

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.