Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on May 25, 2013 at 06:20 UTC.

[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated daily)]
[Solar wind and electron fluence charts (updated daily)]
[Solar cycles 23-24 (last update May 1, 2013)] [Cycle 24 progress (last update April 7, 2013) ]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last update May 1, 2013)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (last update May 1, 2013)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update May 6, 2013)]

[POES auroral activity level since October 2009 - updated January 26, 2013]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated May 12, 2013]
[Presentation 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf)]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to major storm on May 24. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 422 and 580 km/s. A moderate solar wind shock was observed at SOHO at 17:40 UTC. This was the arrival of the CME observed on May 22 and has caused active to major storm conditions.

Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 127.3 (increasing 0.6 over the last solar rotation). The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 20 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 19.6). Three hour interval K indices: 22233264 (planetary), 23323354 (Boulder).

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

At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 8 spotted active regions (in 2K resolution SDO images).

Region 11748 [N13W70] was quiet and stable.
Region 11753 [N04E08] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11754 [S19W06] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11755 [N11E27] gained some spots and was mostly quiet.
Region 11756 [S20E15] lost some magnetic complexity, however, there is still minor polarity intermixing. C flares are possible.

Spotted regions not numbered by SWPC:
S2431 [S19W21] was quiet and stable
New region S2440 [S09E83] rotated into view with a single spot.
New region S2441 [N19E18] emerged with penumbra spots.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

May 23-24: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO and STEREO imagery.
May 22: A halo CME was observed in LASCO imagery after the M5 event in AR 11745..

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 recurrent trans equatorial coronal hole (CH571) will likely rotate into an Earth facing position on May 29-30.

Coronal hole map

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 fair to good.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to major storm on May 25 due to CME effects. Quiet to unsettled is likely on May 26-27.

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 2K resolution) Compare to the previous day's image. 0.5k image

When available the active region map has a coronal hole polarity overlay where red (pink) is negative and blue 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
11748 2013.05.13 4 8 1 N12W69 0030 CRO BXO  
11754 2013.05.18
2013.05.20
9 17 5 S19W03 0020 CRO CRO

 

11753 2013.05.19
2013.05.20
3 12 4 N05E09 0010 BXO CRO  
11756 2013.05.20
2013.05.21
21 46 19 S20E15 0290 EHI EAI beta-gamma
S2431 2013.05.20   8 2 S19W21 0014   BXO  
11755 2013.05.20
2013.05.21
12 30 15 N11E26 0220 DAI DAC  
S2434 2013.05.20       N12W55           plage
S2435 2013.05.20       N28W40           plage
S2436 2013.05.21       N05W06           plage
S2437 2013.05.21       N15W12           plage
S2438 2013.05.22       N17W32           plage
S2439 2013.05.23       S19W56         plage
S2440 2013.05.24   1 1 S09E83 0090   HSX    
S2441 2013.05.24   2 1 N19E18 0010   AXX    
Total spot count: 49 124 48  
Sunspot number: 99 204 128  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 70 145 69  (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): 59 71 70 k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC, k = 0.35 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)
2011.11 153.5 (cycle max) 96.7 (cycle max) 61.1 (+1.2) 5.55
2012.02 106.5 32.9 66.9 (+1.4)
possible cycle 24 max
8.81
2012.03 114.7 64.3 66.8 (-0.1) 16.08
2012.04 113.0 55.2 64.6 (-2.2) 10.10
2012.05 121.5 69.0 61.7 (-2.9) 7.06
2012.06 119.6 64.5 58.9 (-2.8) 10.08
2012.07 133.9 66.5 57.7 (-1.2) 13.90
2012.08 115.4 63.0 58.1 (+0.4) 7.96
2012.09 122.9 61.4 58.1 (-0.0) 8.07
2012.10 123.3 53.3 58.6 (+0.5) 9.97
2012.11 121.3 61.8 (59.1 projected, +0.5) 7.08
2012.12 108.6 40.8 (58.4 projected, -0.7) 3.44
2013.01 127.1 62.9 (58.0 projected, -0.4) 4.69
2013.02 104.3 38.0 (58.2 projected, +0.5) 6.11
2013.03 111.3 57.9 (57.8 projected, -0.4) 10.56
2013.04 124.8 72.4 (57.4 projected, -0.4) 5.40
2013.05 137.7 (1) 107.5 (2A) / 138.8 (2B) / 82.5 (2C) (57.5 projected, +0.1) (8.36)

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) Boulder SN current month average to date. 2C) STAR SDO 1K Wolf number 30 day average.
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.