Last major update issued on December 7, 2014 at 05:15 UTC.
[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated
daily)]
[Solar wind and
electron fluence charts (updated
daily)]
[Solar cycles 23-24 (last update December 1, 2014)] [Cycle
24 progress (last update December 1, 2014) ]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last
update December 1, 2014)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and
24 (last update December 1, 2014)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006
(last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update
December 3, 2014)]
[Noon SDO sunspot count 1K Reference: 4K (large file) (updated daily)]
[POES auroral activity level October
2009 - December 2012]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated
November 22, 2014]
[Presentations:
3rd
SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf)
/
4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014]
The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on December 6. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 418 and 759 km/s. The total field of the interplanetary magnetic field increased slowly after 07h UTC and peaked near 15h UTC at a moderate to high level. This was likely the arrival of another CME embedded in the solar wind (no shock was observed).
Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 128.7 (decreasing 3.0 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 151.1. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 10 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 9.8). Three hour interval K indices: 22221233 (planetary), 12332234 (Boulder).
The background x-ray flux is at the class B6 level.
At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 11 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 166) and 8 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 103) SDO images on the visible solar disk.
Region 12218 [N17W88] rotated quietly to the northwest limb.
Region 12221 [N02W57] was quiet and stable.
Region 12222 [S20W65] decayed slowly and produce a
few C flares.
Region 12225 [S16W17] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12227 [S05E21] developed with new flux emerging in the trailing
spot section.
New region 12229 [S24E23] emerged on December 4. The region
decayed quickly on December 6 when it was numbered by SWPC.
New region 12230 [S14E60] rotated into view on
December 5 with SWPC numbering the region the next day.
Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4047 [N12E08] was quiet and stable.
S4053 [S10W37] was quiet and stable.
S4054 [S07E35] reemerged with penumbra spots.
New region S4061 [S23W02] emerged with a few spots.
C2+ flares (GOES):
| Magnitude | Peak time (UTC) | Location | AR | Comment |
| C2.8 | 01:56 | S21W48 | 12222 | |
| C4.4 (LDE) | 12:44 | S24W53 | 12222 | |
| C3.7/1N | 13:52 | S25W51 | 12222 |
December 4-6: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO 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 recurrent northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH645) will likely rotate into an Earth facing position on December 10.
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 to fair.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to active on December 7 due to CME effects and quiet to unsettled on December 8-9.
| 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.
(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 | ||||||||||
| 12218 | 2014.11.23 | 1 | 1 | N17W90 | 0090 | HSX | HSX |
 |
 |
area: 0190 |
|
| 12221 | 2014.11.25 2014.11.26 |
2 | N05W67 | 0004 | AXX |
 |
 |
location: N02W57 | |||
| 12222 | 2014.11.26 | 6 | 11 | 6 | S20W64 | 0650 | CKO | CKO |
 |
 |
|
| 12224 | 2014.11.26 2014.11.28 |
S24W82 | plage | ||||||||
| 12226 | 2014.11.27 2014.12.01 |
1 | S19W88 | 0010 | HSX |
 |
rotated out of view |
||||
| 12225 | 2014.11.29 2014.11.30 |
3 | 2 | S15W21 | 0008 | BXO |
 |
 |
location: S16W17 | ||
| 12227 | 2014.12.02 | 1 | 20 | 7 | S04E18 | 0100 | HSX | DSO |
 |
 |
area: 0220 |
| S4047 | 2014.12.02 | 6 | 1 | N12E08 | 0010 | BXO |
 |
 |
|||
| S4048 | 2014.12.02 | N07E13 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| S4049 | 2014.12.02 | S09W40 | plage | ||||||||
| 12228 | 2014.12.03 2014.12.04 |
N08W44 | plage | ||||||||
| S4053 | 2014.12.03 | 1 | 1 | S10W37 | 0004 | AXX |
 |
 |
|||
| S4054 | 2014.12.03 | 2 | 1 | S07E35 | 0004 | AXX |
 |
||||
| 12229 | 2014.12.04 2014.12.06 |
3 | 1 | S23E22 | 0010 | BXO | AXX |
 |
 |
area: 0002 | |
| S4057 | 2014.12.04 | S14E13 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| 12230 | 2014.12.05 2014.12.06 |
1 | 4 | 2 | S14E57 | 0010 | AXX | AXX |
 |
 |
location: S14E60 |
| S4060 | 2014.12.05 | S40W21 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| S4061 | 2014.12.06 | 5 | 3 | S23W02 | 0016 | CRO |
 |
||||
| Total spot count: | 13 | 56 | 23 | ||||||||
| Sunspot number: | 73 | 166 | 103 | (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions) | |||||||
| Weighted SN: | 38 | 79 | 41 | (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): | 44 | 58 | 57 | k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC, k = 0.35 for MSN 2K, k = 0.55 for MSN 1K (MSN=Magnetic Sunspot Number) | |||||||
| Month | Average solar flux | International sunspot number (WDC-SILSO) |
Smoothed sunspot number | Average ap (3) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measured | 1 AU | ||||
| 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 | 75.0 (+1.9) | 7.71 |
| 2013.11 | 148.3 | 145.1 | 77.6 | 75.4 (+0.4) | 5.68 |
| 2013.12 | 147.7 | 143.1 | 90.3 | 76.0 (+0.6) | 4.68 |
| 2014.01 | 157.4 | 152.4 | 81.8 | 77.3 (+1.3) | 5.44 |
| 2014.02 | 170.3 (cycle peak) |
166.3 | 102.3 (cycle peak) | 78.4 (+1.1) | 10.70 |
| 2014.03 | 149.9 | 148.5 | 91.9 | 80.8 (+2.4) | 4.88 |
| 2014.04 | 143.9 | 144.8 | 84.7 | 81.9 (+1.1) (likely solar max) |
7.88 |
| 2014.05 | 129.7 | 132.9 | 75.2 | 80.5 (-1.4) | 5.75 |
| 2014.06 | 122.0 | 125.8 | 71.0 | (79.1 projected, -1.6) | 6.72 |
| 2014.07 | 137.4 | 141.8 | 72.5 | (77.5 projected, -1.6) | 4.50 |
| 2014.08 | 124.7 | 127.9 | 74.7 | (75.1 projected, -3.0) | 7.71 |
| 2014.09 | 146.6 | 148.1 | 87.6 | (71.9 projected, -3.2) | 9.78 |
| 2014.10 | 153.4 | 152.9 | 60.6 | (69.5 projected, -2.4) | 8.96 |
| 2014.11 | 154.8 | 151.4 | 70.1 | (67.7 projected, -1.8) | 9.33 |
| 2014.12 | 151.2 (1) | 23.9 (2A) / 123.5 (2B) / 90.7 (2C) | (66.0 projected, -1.7) | (8.6) | |
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.
