Last major update issued on March 11, 2012 at 06:30 UTC.
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Annotated geomagnetic activity charts - Carrington rotation
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2119 [January-February
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[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated
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The geomagnetic field was quiet to active on March 10. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 450 and 620 km/s under the decreasing influence of a CME.
Solar flux measured at 17h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 140.6 (increasing 30.2 over the last solar rotation, the observation at 20h UTC was flare enhanced). The planetary A index was 18 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 17.9). Three hour interval K indices: 44332342 (planetary), 55333332 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class B8 level.
At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 9 spotted active regions (in 2K resolution SDO images).
Region 11428 [S16W45] decayed quickly and lost all penumbra on the
trailing spots. Flare: C1.9 at 07:02 UTC
Region 11429 [N18W23] decayed in the central and trailing spot sections,
however, the leading positive and negative polarity spots merged again forming a
significant magnetic delta structure. Further major flares are possible. Flares:
C3.5 at 02:39, C1.9 at 07:46, major M8.4 long duration event peaking at 17:44
UTC. The latter event may have been triggered by an event in region 11430. An
impressive and fast CME was observed.
Region 11430 [N20W41] decayed slowly. Flare:
C8.0 long duration event peaking at 15:52 UTC. A small CME was observed after
this event.
Region 11432 [N15E54] decayed a little as the magnetic delta structure
disappeared.
Flares: C3.8 at 01:19, C1.2 at 13:26 UTC.
Spotted regions not reported by NOAA/SWPC:
[S1505] reemerged on March 9. Location at midnight: S25W56
[S1512] reemerged on March 10. Location at midnight: S23W04
[S1517] emerged in the southeast quadrant on March 9. Location at midnight:
S23E10
[S1522] emerged near the southeast limb on March 10. Location at midnight:
S22E70
[S1523] rotated into view at the northeast limb on March 10. Location at
midnight: N11E77
March 8: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO and
STEREO imagery.
March 9: The M6 event in region 11429 produced a full
halo CME. This CME could reach Earth before noon
on March 11.
March 10: The M8 event in region 11429 was associated with an inpressive
halo CME which is likely to reach Earth early on March 12.
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 large recurrent trans equatorial coronal hole (CH507) will likely rotate in an Earth facing position on March 13-14.
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 poor to fair.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to major storm on March 11 due to CME effects. Unsettled to severe storm is likely on March 12 due to another CME. On March 13 quiet to minor storm conditions is likely.
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 magnetic polarity overlay |
Comment | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SWPC | STAR SDO | SWPC | STAR | Current | Previous | ||||||
2K | 1K | ||||||||||
S1505 | 2012.03.02 | 2 | S25W56 | 0000 | BXO | ||||||
11428 | 2012.03.02 2012.03.03 |
14 | 12 | 8 | S17W46 | 0060 | CRO | CAO |
|
||
11429 | 2012.03.02 2012.03.03 |
22 | 60 | 22 | N18W26 | 0880 | EKC | EKC |
beta-gamma-delta location: N18W23 reversed polarities |
||
11430 | 2012.03.04 | 9 | 19 | 8 | N21W42 | 0100 | CAO | CAI | |||
S1512 | 2012.03.05 | 2 | S23W04 | 0000 | AXX | ||||||
S1514 | 2012.03.07 | N12W02 | plage | ||||||||
11432 | 2012.03.08 2012.03.09 |
4 | 10 | 5 | N15E52 | 0080 | HSX | DAO | |||
S1516 | 2012.03.08 | N27W19 | plage | ||||||||
S1517 | 2012.03.09 | 2 | S23E10 | 0000 | AXX | ||||||
S1520 | 2012.03.09 | N27E09 | plage | ||||||||
S1521 | 2012.03.09 | S32W42 | plage | ||||||||
S1522 | 2012.03.10 | 3 | 2 | S22E70 | 0050 | DRO | |||||
S1523 | 2012.03.10 | 2 | 2 | N11E77 | 0060 | CSO | |||||
Total spot count: | 49 | 112 | 47 | ||||||||
Sunspot number: | 89 | 202 | 107 | (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions) | |||||||
Weighted penumbral SN: | 72 | 145 | 80 | (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 | 71 | 59 | 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 |
3.25 |
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 | 41.8 (+4.9) | 9.71 / 8.83 |
2011.05 | 95.8 | 41.6 | 47.6 (+5.8) | 9.18 / 8.94 |
2011.06 | 95.8 | 37.0 | 53.2 (+5.6) | 8.96 / 8.06 |
2011.07 | 94.2 | 43.9 | 57.2 (+4.0) | 9.14 / 8.16 |
2011.08 | 101.7 | 50.6 | 59.0 (+1.8) | 8.16 / 7.26 |
2011.09 | 133.8 | 78.0 | (59.2 projected, +0.2) | 12.80 / 12.27 |
2011.10 | 137.3 | 88.0 | (59.4 projected, +0.2) | 7.52 / 8.28 |
2011.11 | 153.5 | 96.7 | (60.8 projected, +1.4) | 4.58 / 5.55 |
2011.12 | 141.3 | 73.0 | (63.6 projected, +2.8) | 3.32 |
2012.01 | 132.5 | 58.3 | (67.1 projected, +3.5) | 6.59 |
2012.02 | 106.5 | 33.1 | (71.0 projected, +3.9) | 8.09 |
2012.03 | 127.4 (1) | 24.4 (2A) / 75.7 (2B) | (73.2 projected, +2.2) | (26.91) |
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.