Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on April 8, 2014 at 04:50 UTC.

[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated daily)]
[Solar wind and electron fluence charts (updated daily)]
[Solar cycles 23-24 (last update April 1, 2014)] [Cycle 24 progress (last update April 1, 2014) ]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last update April 1, 2014)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (last update April 1, 2014)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update April 2, 2014)]

[POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated March 16, 2014]
[Presentation 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf)]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to active on April 7. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 334 and 431 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 139.9 (decreasing 24.7 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 152.6. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 11 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 11.1). Three hour interval K indices: 32213422 (planetary), 10214411 (Boulder).

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

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 13 active regions in 2K resolution (SN: 272) and 13 active regions in 1K resolution (SN: 214) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12021 [S13W84] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12026 [S12W29] decayed slowly and produced a few low level C flares.
Region 12027 [N12W22] was mostly unchanged and quiet.
Region 12028 [S08W17] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12029 [N17W38] was quiet and stable.
Region 12030 [N10W08] decayed slowly and quietly. There are still opposite polarity spots within a single trailing penumbral structure.
Region 12031 [N02W38] developed slowly and was mostly quiet.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S3302 [S15W12] was quiet and stable.
S3304 [S13E22] was quiet and stable.
S3305 [N11E39] was quiet and stable.
New region S3307 [N12E80] rotated into view. C flares are possible.
New region S3308 [S02E37] emerged with several spots.
New region S3309 [S20E30] was observed with several penumbra spots.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

April 5-7: 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

An extension of a southern hemisphere coronal hole (CH610) will rotate across the central meridian on April 8 and could cause a weak geomagnetic disturbance on April 11. A small trans equatorial coronal hole could rotate into an Earth facing position on April 10.

Coronal hole map

Propagation

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

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on April 8-10.

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: 0-30% probability, Yellow: 30-70% probability, Red: 70-100% 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 Magnetic
(SDO)
SWPC STAR Current Previous
2K 1K
12022 2014.03.27
2014.03.28
      N17W72           plage
12021 2014.03.28 7 2 1 S13W82 0060 CSO CAO  
12026 2014.03.30 10 52 31 S12W31 0080 ESO EAI

location: S12W29

area: 0140

12027 2014.03.30
2014.03.31
4 10 7 N12W22 0150 CSO CSO area: 0230
12028 2014.03.31
2014.04.01
2 9 7 S08W15 0010 AXX BXO location: S08W17

area: 0025

S3290 2014.03.31       S20W49           plage
12029 2014.04.01 2 4 2 N18W39 0030 HAX CRO  
12030 2014.04.01 4 15 8 N10W10 0040 DAO DRO beta-gamma-delta
S3295 2014.04.02       S11W56           plage
S3296 2014.04.02       S01W54           plage
S3298 2014.04.03       N07W18           plage
S3300 2014.04.03       S13E21           plage
S3301 2014.04.04       N14E27           plage
S3302 2014.04.04   5 2 S15W12 0016   AXX  
S3303 2014.04.05       N00W18           plage
12031 2014.04.06 7 19 11 N03W40 0050 CAO DAI beta-gamma

area: 0100

location: N02W38

S3304 2014.04.06   2 2 S13E22 0009   BXO  
S3305 2014.04.06   3 1 N11E39 0010   BXO  
S3307 2014.04.07   4 3 N12E80 0300   DSO    
S3308 2014.04.07   8 6 S02E37 0030   CRO    
S3309 2014.04.07   9 3 S20E30 0020   BXO    
Total spot count: 36 142 84  
Sunspot number: 106 272 214  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 66 176 118  (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): 64 95 118 k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC, k = 0.35 for MSN 2K, k = 0.55 for MSN 1K (MSN=Magnetic Sunspot Number)

Monthly solar cycle data

Month Average solar flux International sunspot number
(WDC-SILSO)
Smoothed sunspot number Average ap
(3)
Measured 1 AU
2013.01 127.1 123.1 62.9 58.7 (-0.9) 4.69
2013.02 104.3 101.8 38.0 58.4 (-0.3) 6.11
2013.03 111.3 110.2 57.9 57.5 (-0.9) 10.56
2013.04 124.8 125.9 72.4 57.9 (+0.4) 5.40
2013.05 131.4 134.3 78.7 59.9 (+2.0) 9.73
2013.06 110.1 113.7 52.5 62.6 (+2.7) 12.60
2013.07 115.5 119.3 57.0 65.5 (+2.9) 9.47
2013.08 114.6 118.3 66.0 69.0 (+3.5) 8.27
2013.09 102.6 103.7 36.9 73.1 (+4.1) 5.23
2013.10  132.1 131.2 85.6 (74.9 projected, +1.8) 7.71
2013.11  148.3 145.1 77.6 (74.9 projected, -0.0) 5.68
2013.12 147.7 143.1 90.3 (74.4 projected, -0.5) 4.68
2014.01 157.4 152.4 82.0 (74.3 projected, -0.1) 5.44
2014.02 170.3
(cycle peak)
166.3 102.8 (cycle peak) (73.7 projected, -0.6) 10.70
2014.03 149.9 148.5 92.2 (73.8 projected, +0.1) 4.88
2014.04 148.7 (1)   31.7 (2A) / 135.9 (2B) / 108.9 (2C) (73.0 projected, -0.8) (6.6)

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 WDC-SILSO 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 GFZ Potsdam WDC ap indices.

This report has been prepared by Jan Alvestad. It is based on the 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.