Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on April 1, 2012 at 06:35 UTC.

[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated daily)]
[Solar wind and electron fluence charts (updated daily)
[Solar cycles 21-24 (last update March 2, 2012)]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last update March 2, 2012)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (last update March 2, 2012)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update March 1, 2012)]

[POES auroral activity level since October 2009 - updated April 1, 2012]
Annotated geomagnetic activity charts - Carrington rotation 2118 [December 2011 - January 2012] - 2119 [January-February 2012]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated June 27, 2011]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on March 31. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 326 and 368 km/s.

Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 110.1 (decreasing 10.0 over the last solar rotation). The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 6 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 5.6). Three hour interval K indices: 11112321 (planetary), 01003320 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B2 level.

At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 11 spotted active regions (in 2K resolution SDO images).

Region 11443 [N13W58] was quiet and stable.
Region 11445 [S22W32] was quiet and stable.
Region 11448 [S17E17] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11449 [S18W45] developed slowly and could produce C flares.
New region 11450 [N16E37] emerged in the northeast quadrant on March 30 and was numbered by SWPC one day later.
New region 11451 [N18E57] rotated into view at the northeast limb early on March 30 and got an SWPC number the next day. This is old AR 11429 and has reversed polarities.

Spotted regions not reported by NOAA/SWPC:
[S1548] emerged in the northeast quadrant on March 23 and developed quickly on March 26. Slow decay was observed on March 27 while new spots emerged in the leading spot section on March 28 resulting in minor polarity intermixing. The region decayed on March 29-31 and could soon become spotless. SWPC has this as AR 11442, a region which was originally further west. Location at midnight: N13W69.
[S1553] rotated into view at the southeast limb on March 27. Location at midnight: S18E27
[S1558] emerged in the southeast quadrant on March 28. Location at midnight: S30W18
[S1562] emerged near the northeast limb on March 31. Location at midnight: N16E74
[S1563] emerged in the northeast quadrant on March 31. Location at midnight: N26E16

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

March 29-31: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO and STEREO imagery.

Coronal holes

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 small coronal hole (CH510) in the northern hemisphere was in an Earth facing position on March 30. A new trans equatorial coronal hole (CH511) emerged near the central meridian on March 31.

Coronal hole map

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.

Propagation

Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over high and upper middle latitudes is fair. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on April 1. Weak effects from CH510 are possible on April 2 and from CH511 on April 3.

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.

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 magnetic polarity overlay
Comment
SWPC STAR SDO SWPC STAR Current Previous
2K 1K
11438 2012.03.19
2012.03.20
      S13W79         plage
11442 2012.03.21
2012.03.22
4     N12W66 0050 DSO       spotless

location: N12W72

SWPC data is for AR S1548

11443 2012.03.21
2012.03.22
3 6 1 N13W60 0030 CRO CRO location: N13W58
11444 2012.03.22
2012.03.23
      N21W72          

plage

location: N19W63

11445 2012.03.23 3 4 1 S23W26 0130 CSO CHO

area: 0260

location: S22W32

S1547 2012.03.23       N29W49           plage
S1548 2012.03.23   3   N13W69 0000   AXX  
11448 2012.03.26
2012.03.28
3 5 2 S17E15 0010 BXO BXO location: S17E17
S1552 2012.03.26       N12W50         plage
S1553 2012.03.27   3   S18E27 0000   AXX  
S1554 2012.03.27       N16W42           plage
11449 2012.03.28
2012.03.29
4 12 7 S18W47 0030 CRO DRO  
S1558 2012.03.28   3 1 S30W18 0000   AXX  
S1559 2012.03.29       N22W45         plage
11450 2012.03.30
2012.03.31
5 12 3 N15E38 0020 CRO CRO  
11451 2012.03.30
2012.03.31
4 4   N17E53 0020 CRO BXO location: N18E57

area: 0000

S1562 2012.03.31   2 1 N16E74 0000   BXO    
S1563 2012.03.31   1   N26E18 0000   AXX    
Total spot count: 26 55 16  
Sunspot number: 96 165 86  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted penumbral SN: 48 74 35  (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): 58 58 47 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

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
 
2010.12 84.2 14.4 28.8 (+2.3) 4.35
2011.01 83.6 19.1 31.0 (+2.2) 5.51
2011.02 94.6 29.4 33.4 (+2.4)  6.44
2011.03 115.0 56.2 36.9 (+3.5) 8.18
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 (59.2 projected, +0.2) 12.27
2011.10 137.3 88.0 (59.4 projected, +0.2) 8.28
2011.11 153.5 96.7 (60.8 projected, +1.4) 5.55
2011.12 141.3 73.0 (63.6 projected, +2.8) 3.78
2012.01 132.5 58.3 (67.1 projected, +3.5) 7.15
2012.02 106.5 33.1 (71.0 projected, +3.9) 8.81
2012.03 114.7 (1) 76.7 (2A/2B) (73.2 projected, +2.2) (20.13)

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 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.