Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Last major update issued on October 4, 2011 at 04:15 UTC.

[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated daily)]
[Solar wind and electron fluence charts (updated daily)
[Solar cycles 21-24 (last update October 1, 2011)]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last update October 1, 2011)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (last update October 1, 2011)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update October 1, 2011)]

[POES auroral activity level since October 2009 - updated October 3, 2011]
Annotated geomagnetic activity charts - Carrington rotation 2113 [July-August 2011] - 2114 [August-September 2011]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated June 27, 2011]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on October 3. Solar wind speed ranged between 349 and 445 km/s.

Solar flux measured at 23h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 128.9 (increasing 17.4 over the last solar rotation). The planetary A index was 6 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 6.0). Three hour interval K indices: 00122322 (planetary), 10232212 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B4 level.

At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 10 spotted regions (in 2K resolution SDO images).

Region 11302 [N13W75] decayed quickly with only rudimentary penumbra visible on the trailing spots. Flare: C7.6/2N at 00:30 UTC
Region 11305 [N12W39] decayed further and was quiet.
Region 11306 [N15W19] was quiet and stable.
Region 11307 [N15E07] was quiet and stable.
Region 11308 [S27E35] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11309 [N23E56] added a few spots and was quiet.
New region 11310 [S33E16] emerged in the southeast quadrant on October 2 and was numbered the next day by SWPC.

Spotted regions not reported by NOAA/SWPC:
[S1251] emerged in the southeast quadrant on October 3. Location at midnight: S18E58
[S1252] emerged in the southeast quadrant on October 3. Location at midnight: S12E36
[S1253] rotated partly into view at the northeast limb on October 3. Location at midnight: N24E87

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

October 1: An Earth directed CME was associated with the M1 event in region 11305. The CME will likely reach Earth sometime on October 4. A large full halo CME was observed later in the day both in STEREO-A and B, its origin an active region a couple of days behind the northeast limb.
October 2: An apparently Earth directed CME was observed in STEREO images early in the day (associated with the M3.9 event in region 11305). This CME could reach Earth late on October 4 or early on October 5.
October 3: No obviously Earth directed CMEs observed.

Coronal holes

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 northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH478) will probably rotate into an Earth facing position on October 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.

Propagation

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 poor to fair.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to minor storm on October 4-5 due to CME effects, major storm intervals are possible. Quiet ot unsettled is likely on October 6.

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.

Active solar regions

(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
11302 2011.09.21
2011.09.22
10 17 N13W69 0320 FKO FHO

location: N13W75

area: 0450

11305 2011.09.24
2011.09.25
10 12 N11W36 0250 CHI CHO location: N12W39
11306 2011.09.25
2011.09.26
1 2 N14W20 0030 HSX CSO  
11307 2011.09.27
2011.09.28
1 7 N13E05 0015 HRX CRO location: N15E07
S1239 2011.09.27     S22W46           plage
11308 2011.09.30
2011.10.01
  3 S27E35 0000   BXO  
S1242 2011.09.30     N21W09           plage
S1243 2011.09.30     S16W31           plage
S1244 2011.09.30     S27W11           plage
S1245 2011.09.30     S23W25         plage
11309 2011.10.01
2011.10.02
6 7 N24E55 0120 DAO CSO

area: 0250

S1247 2011.10.01     N08W48         plage
11310 2011.10.02
2011.10.03
3 7 S33E16 0010 BXO DRO formerly region S1248

area: 0040

S1249 2011.10.02     N33E18         plage
S1250 2011.10.02     N27E05         plage
S1251 2011.10.03   1 S18E58 0000   AXX    
S1252 2011.10.03   7 S12E36 0050   CRO    
S1253 2011.10.03   1 N23E87 0350   HHX    
Total spot count: 31 64  
Sunspot number: 91 164  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Classification adjusted SN: 64 113  (Sum of total spot count + classification adjustment for each AR. Classification adjustment: X=0, R=3, A/S=5, H/K=10)
Relative sunspot number (Wolf number): 55 54  k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC. k = 0.33 for STAR SDO

Monthly solar cycle data

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
2010.07 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 33.4 (+2.4) 5.41 / 6.44
2011.03 115.0 56.2 36.9 (+3.5) 7.79 / 8.18
2011.04 112.6 54.4 (41.1 predicted, +4.2) 9.71 / 8.83
2011.05 95.8 41.6 (45.2 predicted, +4.1) 9.18 / 8.94
2011.06 95.8 37.0 (49.2 predicted, +4.0) 8.96
2011.07 94.2 43.9 (53.1 predicted, +3.9) 9.14
2011.08 101.7 50.6 (57.2 predicted, +4.1) 8.16
2011.09 133.8 78.0 (60.3 predicted, +3.1) 12.80
2011.10 132.2 (1) 8.7 (2A) / 89.7 (2B) (61.8 predicted, +1.5) (8.71)

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.