Last major update issued on September 10, 2006 at 04:25 UTC.
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September 8, 2006)]
The geomagnetic field was inactive to very quiet on September 9. Solar wind speed ranged between 339 and 349 km/s (all day average 346 km/s - decreasing 26 km/s from the previous day).
Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 85.5. The planetary A index was 2 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 2.0). Three hour interval K indices: 11000001 (planetary), 12010010 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class A6 level.
At midnight there were 3 spotted regions on the visible solar disk. The solar flare activity level was very low. No C class events were recorded during the day.
Region 10907 reemerged with a few tiny spots.
Region 10908 was mostly
unchanged and quiet.
Region 10909 added a few more spts in the leading spot section while slow
decay was observed in the trailing spots.
September 7 and 9: No obvious partly or fully Earth directed CMEs were detected
in incomplete LASCO imagery.
September 8: While there were mayn data gaps some of the LASCO images
from early in the day and around noon displays CMEs in progress. Based on
the scant evidence available it is hard to tell if these CMEs had a frontsided
origin.
Coronal hole history (since late October 2002)
Compare today's report to the situation one solar rotation ago:
28 days ago
27 days ago
26 days ago
A small recurrent coronal hole (CH239) in the southern hemisphere will likely rotate into an Earth facing position on September 14.
Processed SOHO/EIT 284 image at 19:08 UTC on August 18. The darkest areas on the solar disk are likely coronal holes.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly quiet on September 10-16. There is a slight chance of CME effects reaching Earth on September 11. Weak coronal hole effects are possible on September 17.
Coronal holes (1) | Coronal mass ejections (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: 0-20% probability, Yellow: 20-60% probability, Red: 60-100% probability.
Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along east-west paths over high and upper middle latitudes is good. Many stations from North America were heard with good to excellent signals. Most of the staitons observed were from the northeastern US. Some longer range propagation was noted as well with one surprise being 1310 Radio María Panamá. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is very poor.
Compare to the previous day's image.
Data for all numbered solar regions according to the Solar Region Summary provided by NOAA/SEC. 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 SEC or where SEC has observed no spots. SEC active region numbers in the table below and in the active region map above are the historic SEC/USAF numbers.
Active region | Date numbered | SEC spot count |
STAR spot count |
Location at midnight | Area | Classification | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
10907 | 2006.09.05 | 4 | 3 | S13W08 | 0020 | DSO | classification was BXO at mindight, area 0010 |
10908 | 2006.09.05 | 3 | 4 | S15E19 | 0240 | CKO | |
10909 | 2006.09.06 | 14 | 11 | S08W17 | 0080 | DSI | |
Total spot count: | 21 | 18 | |||||
SSN: | 51 | 48 |
Month | Average solar flux at Earth |
International sunspot number | Smoothed sunspot number |
---|---|---|---|
2000.04 | 184.2 | 125.5 | 120.8 cycle 23 sunspot max. |
2000.07 | 202.3 | 170.1 | 119.8 |
2001.12 | 235.1 | 132.2 | 114.6 (-0.9) |
2005.07 | 96.4 | 40.1 | 29.1 (+0.3) |
2005.08 | 90.5 | 36.4 | 27.4 (-1.7) |
2005.09 | 91.1 | 21.9 | 25.8 (-1.6) |
2005.10 | 77.0 | 8.5 | 25.5 (-0.3) |
2005.11 | 86.3 | 18.0 | 24.9 (-0.6) |
2005.12 | 90.7 | 41.2 | 23.0 (-1.9) |
2006.01 | 83.4 | 15.4 | 20.8 (-2.2) |
2006.02 | 76.5 | 4.7 | 18.6 (-2.2) |
2006.03 | 75.4 | 10.8 | (17.1 predicted, -1.5) |
2006.04 | 89.0 | 30.2 | (16.4 predicted, -0.7) |
2006.05 | 80.9 | 22.2 | (15.9 predicted, -0.5) |
2006.06 | 76.5 | 13.9 | (14.1 predicted, -1.8) |
2006.07 | 75.7 | 12.2 | (12.4 predicted, -1.7) |
2006.08 | 79.0 | 12.9 | (11.9 predicted, -0.5) |
2006.09 | 81.3 (1) | 8.9 (2) | (11.9 predicted, -0.0) |
1) Running average based on the
daily 20:00 UTC observed solar flux
value at 2800 MHz.
2) Unofficial, accumulated value based on the Boulder (NOAA/SEC)
sunspot number. The official international sunspot number is typically
30-50% lower.
This report has been prepared by Jan Alvestad. It is based partly on my own observations and analysis, and partly on data from some of these solar data sources. All time references are to the UTC day. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
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