Last major update issued on July 17, 2012 at 05:35 UTC.
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The geomagnetic field was unsettled to major storm on July 16. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 310 and 524 km/s under the influence of CME effects. The total field of the interplanetary magnetic field decreased slowly throughout the day. Bz was southwards until about 15h UTC, then briefly northwards before swinging slowly and more strongly southwards again towards the end of the day. Solar wind temperature has increased after 03h UTC on July 17, possibly due to the arrival of a high speed stream from CH523.
Solar flux measured at 17h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 137.9 (increasing 28.0 over the last solar rotation, the measurement at 20h UTC was flare enhanced). The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 46 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 46.1). Three hour interval K indices: 66554433 (planetary), 65443333 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class C1 level.
At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 11 spotted active regions (in 2K resolution SDO images).
Region 11519 [S16W83] was mostly quiet and stable as it rotated to the
southwest limb.
Region 11520 [S17W60] decayed significantly losing spots and penumbral
area.
Region 11521 [S21W77] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11522 [N12W63] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11523 [S29W27] increased the size of the leading penumbra and
nearly lost all traces of penumbra on the trailing spots.
Spotted active regions not numbered or interpreted differently by NOAA/SWPC:
S1777 [S12W63] decayed slowly and quietly barely retaining rudimentary
penumbra.
S1790 [N12W14] was quiet and stable.
S1798 [S15E77] decayed slightly and was quiet.
New region S1800 [S19E66] emerged near AR S1798. This is a quickly
emerging and interesting region. Early on July 17 a magnetic delta structure has
developed and M flares are possible. This region was the source of the only
interesting activity of the day producing a long duration C7.5 event peaking at
20:03 UTC. A CME was observed off the southeast limb just after the peak of the
event. SWPC claims AR 11520 was the source of this event, another interpreter
thinks it was AR 11519, and while there certainly were simultaneous flare
activity in both regions which may have contributed to the increase in x-ray
levels, STEREO-B imagery of AR S1800 matches the onset and peak of the LDE. Most
LDEs are anyway associated with CMEs and the only CME observed was off the
northern part of the southeast limb.
New region S1801 [S13E07] emerged with a tiny spot.
New region S1802 [S10W51] emerged with a single spot.
July 14-16: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO and STEREO imagery.
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 coronal hole (CH523) in the northern hemisphere rotated across the central meridian on July 14. A coronal hole (CH524) in the southern hemisphere will likely rotate into an Earth facing position on July 18.
The above coronal hole map is based on a method where coronal holes are detected automatically. While the method may need some fine tuning, 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 this method, the extent and intensity of both CHs 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 very poor. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is fair to good.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to active on July 17 due to lingering CME effects and effects from CH523. Quiet to unsettled is likely on July 18-19.
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: 0-20% 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 magnetic polarity overlay |
Comment | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SWPC | STAR SDO | SWPC | STAR | Current | Previous | ||||||
2K | 1K | ||||||||||
11519 | 2012.07.04 | 12 | 4 | 3 | S17W81 | 0090 | DAO | DSO | |||
11520 | 2012.07.05 2012.07.06 |
12 | 25 | 17 | S16W58 | 0430 | FKC | DKI |
location: S17W60 area: 0600 SWPC count, location, classification and area probably includes ARs S1776 and S1777 |
||
S1776 | 2012.07.05 | S16W68 | plage | ||||||||
S1777 | 2012.07.05 | 1 | 1 | S12W63 | 0010 | HRX | |||||
11521 | 2012.07.07 2012.07.09 |
8 | 5 | 4 | S22W71 | 0220 | EAO | DSO |
location: S21W77 area: 0300 |
||
11522 | 2012.07.07 2012.07.12 |
4 | 5 | 3 | N11W76 | 0060 | DSO | DSO | location: N12W78 | ||
S1790 | 2012.07.10 | 4 | 1 | N12W14 | 0000 | BXO | |||||
S1791 | 2012.07.10 | N12W37 | plage | ||||||||
11523 | 2012.07.11 2012.07.12 |
3 | 13 | 8 | S28W21 | 0040 | DAO | DAO | |||
S1795 | 2012.07.13 | N21E05 | plage | ||||||||
S1796 | 2012.07.13 | S28W55 | plage | ||||||||
S1797 | 2012.07.14 | N09E20 | plage | ||||||||
S1798 | 2012.07.15 | 2 | 1 | S15E64 | 0030 | HRX | |||||
S1799 | 2012.07.15 | S15W34 | plage | ||||||||
S1800 | 2012.07.16 | 4 | 3 | S19E66 | 0020 | DRO | beta-gamma | ||||
S1801 | 2012.07.16 | 1 | 1 | S13E07 | 0000 | AXX | |||||
S1802 | 2012.07.16 | 1 | 1 | S10W51 | 0000 | AXX | |||||
Total spot count: | 39 | 65 | 43 | ||||||||
Sunspot number: | 89 | 175 | 153 | (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions) | |||||||
Weighted penumbral SN: | 69 | 104 | 82 | (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): | 53 | 61 | 84 | k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC, k = 0.35 (changed from 0.45 on March 1, 2011) for STAR SDO 2K, k = 0.55 for STAR SDO 1K |
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 |
|
2011.04 | 112.6 | 54.4 | 41.8 (+4.9) | 8.83 |
2011.05 | 95.8 | 41.6 | 47.6 (+5.8) | 8.94 |
2011.06 | 95.8 | 37.0 | 53.2 (+5.6) | 8.06 |
2011.07 | 94.2 | 43.9 | 57.2 (+4.0) | 8.16 |
2011.08 | 101.7 | 50.6 | 59.0 (+1.8) | 7.26 |
2011.09 | 133.8 | 78.0 | 59.5 (+0.5) | 12.27 |
2011.10 | 137.3 | 88.0 | 59.9 (+0.4) | 8.28 |
2011.11 | 153.5 | 96.7 | 61.1 (+1.2) | 5.55 |
2011.12 | 141.3 | 73.0 | 63.4 (+2.3) | 3.78 |
2012.01 | 132.5 | 58.3 | (65.0 projected, +1.6) | 7.15 |
2012.02 | 106.5 | 33.1 | (66.5 projected, +1.5) | 8.81 |
2012.03 | 114.7 | 64.2 | (67.2 projected, +0.7) | 16.08 |
2012.04 | 113.0 | 55.2 | (66.5 projected, -0.7) | 10.10 |
2012.05 | 121.5 | 69.0 | (64.8 projected, -1.7) | 7.06 |
2012.06 | 119.6 | 64.5 | (64.0 projected, -0.8) | 10.08 |
2012.07 | 153.8 (1) | 64.5 (2A) / 124.9 (2B) | (65.0 projected, +1.0) | (23.10) |
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 quicklook and definitive Potsdam WDC ap indices.
Values in red are based on the definitive
international Potsdam
WDC
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.