Last major update issued on August 7, 2011 at 05:50 UTC.
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The geomagnetic field was quiet to major storm on August 6. Solar wind speed ranged between 418 and 714 km/s under the influence of CME effects.
Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 110.0 (increasing 19.7 over the last solar rotation). The planetary A index was 31 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 30.8). Three hour interval K indices: 65443323 (planetary), 65433323 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class B6 level.
At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 6 spotted regions.
Region 11261 decayed slowly and quietly. The region will be rotating
over the northwest limb today.
Region 11263 had new flux emerge in the trailing part. The new spots are
likely another region, however, as there's currently no clear separation between
the regions, all spots are considered to be that of 11263. A magnetic delta
structure has formed in the area where the old and new spots meet. M class
flares are possible.
Flares: C1.4 at 12:23, C1.4 at 19:27 UTC
Region 11266 became spotless early in the day, then reemerged with spots
during the latter half of the day.
Region 11267 developed a weak magnetic delta structure in the center of
the region. Slow decay was observed during the latter half of the day.
Flares: C4.1 at 08:47, C1.3 at 11:46 UTC
New region 11268 emerged in the northeast quadrant on August 5 and was
numbered the next day by SWPC. Slow decay was observed on August 6 and the
region could soon become spotless.
Spotted regions not numbered by NOAA/SWPC:
[S1156] emerged in the southwest quadrant on August 6. Location at midnight:
S23W19
August 4: A full halo CME was observed in LASCO images after the M9 event
in region 11261 at 03:57 UTC.
August 5-6: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO or
STEREO imagery.
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 recurrent trans equatorial coronal hole (CH469) was Earth facing position on August 4-5, CH469 decayed significantly on August 5-6.
The above coronal hole map is based on a new method where coronal holes are detected automatically. The method may need some fine tuning, however, it has significant advantages over detecting coronal holes manually. The main improvement is the ability to detect coronal holes at and just beyond the solar limbs. Early results using this method for SDO images over a span of several weeks indicate a good match between coronal holes observed over the visible disk and their extent and position at the east and west limbs. Note that the polar coronal holes are easily detected using the new method, the extent and intensity of both holes are consistent with other data sources.
Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over high and upper middle latitudes is poor. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is fair.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled with possible active intervals on August 7-8 due to effects from CH469. Quiet conditions are likely on August 9.
| 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.
(Click on image for higher resolution image) 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 (blue-green) 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 polarity overlay |
Comment | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWPC | STAR SDO | SWPC | STAR | Current | Previous | |||||
| 11261 | 2011.07.25 2011.07.26 |
8 | 6 | N16W77 | 0150 | DSO | HSX |
 |
 |
location: N15W79 area: 0070 |
| 11264 | 2011.07.27 2011.07.28 |
S23W77 | plage location: S33W64 |
|||||||
| 11263 | 2011.07.27 2011.07.28 |
23 | 41 | N18W42 | 0440 | EKC | EKC |
 |
 |
beta-gamma-delta location: N17W42 area: 0550 |
| 11266 | 2011.08.02 2011.08.04 |
7 | N17E13 | 0000 | BXO |
 |
 |
location: N18E16 area: 0000 |
||
| S1152 | 2011.08.03 | S07E27 | plage | |||||||
| 11267 | 2011.08.04 2011.08.05 |
10 | 18 | S17E13 | 0060 | DSO | DAO |
 |
 |
beta-gamma-delta area: 0070 |
| S1154 | 2011.08.04 | N17W37 | merged with region 11263 | |||||||
| 11268 | 2011.08.05 2011.08.06 |
4 | 4 | N17E34 | 0010 | BXO | BXO |
 |
 |
formerly region S1155 |
| S1156 | 2011.08.06 | 3 | S23W19 | 0000 | AXX |
 |
||||
| Total spot count: | 45 | 79 | ||||||||
| Sunspot number: | 85 | 139 | (raw spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions) | |||||||
| Classification adjusted SN: | 65 | 99 | (Sum of raw spot count + classification adjustment for each AR. Classification adjustment: X=0, R=3, A/S=5, H/K=10) | |||||||
| Relative sunspot number (Wolf number): | 51 | 46 | k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC. k = 0.33 for STAR SDO | |||||||
| Month | Average measured solar flux | International sunspot number (SIDC) | Smoothed sunspot number | Average ap (3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008.07 | 65.7 (SF minimum) | 0.5 | 2.8 (-0.4) | |
| 2008.12 | 69.2 | 0.8 | 1.7 (-) sunspot minimum |
3.25 |
| 2010.05 | 73.8 | 8.7 | 15.5 (+1.5) | 9.18 / 8.15 |
| 2010.06 | 72.5 | 13.6 | 16.4 (+0.9) | 8.17 / 6.85 |
| 2010.07 | 79.8 | 16.1 | 16.7 (+0.3) | 6.31 / 5.15 |
| 2010.08 | 79.2 | 19.6 | 17.4 (+0.7) | 8.49 / 7.77 |
| 2010.09 | 81.1 | 25.2 | 19.6 (+2.2) | 5.33 / 5.45 |
| 2010.10 | 81.6 | 23.5 | 23.2 (+3.6) | 6.07 / 6.27 |
| 2010.11 | 82.5 | 21.5 | 26.5 (+3.3) | 4.80 / 5.50 |
| 2010.12 | 84.2 | 14.4 | 28.8 (+2.3) | 3.41 / 4.35 |
| 2011.01 | 83.6 | 19.1 | 31.0 (+2.2) | 4.32 / 5.51 |
| 2011.02 | 94.6 | 29.4 | (33.6 predicted, +2.6) | 5.41 / 6.44 |
| 2011.03 | 115.0 | 56.2 | (36.6 predicted, +3.0) | 7.79 / 8.18 |
| 2011.04 | 112.6 | 54.4 | (39.4 predicted, +2.8) | 9.71 / 8.83 |
| 2011.05 | 95.8 | 41.6 | (42.7 predicted, +3.3) | 9.18 / 8.94 |
| 2011.06 | 95.8 | 37.0 | (46.5 predicted, +3.8) | 8.96 |
| 2011.07 | 94.2 | 43.9 | (50.6 predicted, +4.1) | 9.14 |
| 2011.08 | 117.0 (1) | 17.9 (2A) / 92.3 (2B) | (54.8 predicted, +4.2) | (16.55) |
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 SIDC international sunspot number is typically 30-50% lower. 2B) Month
average to date.
3) Running average based on the preliminary daily SWPC ap indices.
Values in red are based on the official NGDC
ap indices.
This report has been prepared by Jan Alvestad. It is based on 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.
