Last major update issued on January 23, 2014 at 05:40 UTC.
[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated
daily)]
[Solar wind and
electron fluence charts (updated
daily)]
[Solar cycles 23-24 (last update January 1, 2014)] [Cycle
24 progress (last update January 1, 2014) ]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last
update January 1, 2014)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and
24 (last update January 1, 2014)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006
(last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update
January 1, 2014)]
[POES auroral activity level since October
2009 - updated January 26, 2013]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated
January 11, 2014]
[Presentation
3rd
SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf)]
The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on January 22. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 408 and 584 km/s under the influence of a high speed stream from CH600.
Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 143.3 (increasing 19.6 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 147.8. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 9 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 8.9). Three hour interval K indices: 22332113 (planetary), 11343322 (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 15 active regions in 2K resolution (SN: 308) and 15 active regions in 1K resolution (SN: 236) SDO images on the visible solar disk.
Region 11952 [S32W64] was quiet and stable.
Region 11955 [S13W18] was quiet and stable.
Region 11957 [N11W20] gained spots and has a weak magnetic delta
structure centrally. Although none of the umbrae in the region are impressive,
there is a chance of C flares.
Region 11958 [S08E10] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11959 [S23E19] matured quietly.
Region 11960 [S15E23] was quiet and stable.
Region 11961 [S12W61] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11963 [S08E46] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11964 [S13E40] decayed slowly and quietly.
New region 11965 [S15E61] rotated into view on January 20 and was
numbered by SWPC 2 days later.
Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S3029 [S24E02] gained several penumbra spots.
S3038 [N00E18] was quiet and stable.
S3039 [S22W08] was quiet and stable.
S3055 [N15E58] was quiet and stable.
New region S3057 [N06E75] emerged near the northeast limb with a penumbra
spot.
January 21-22: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO
and
STEREO imagery.
January 20: An asymmetric halo CME was observed late in the day after a
long duration C3 event involving AR 11963 and a filament eruption.
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 northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH601) will likely rotate into an Earth facing position on Janaury 25.
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 fair to good.
The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on January 23 due to weak effects from CH600. On January 24 there is a chance of weak effects (unsettled intervals) from the CME observed late on January 20 and early on January 21.
| 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.
(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 | ||||||||||
| 11952 | 2014.01.10 2014.01.11 |
1 | 3 | 1 | S31W66 | 0030 | HSX | CSO |
 |
 |
location: S32W64 |
| 11956 | 2014.01.14 2014.01.17 |
S15W34 | plage | ||||||||
| 11955 | 2014.01.15 2014.01.16 |
2 | 11 | 5 | S13W17 | 0040 | CAO | DAO |
 |
 |
area: 0070 |
| S3029 | 2014.01.16 | 15 | 6 | S24E02 | 0030 | BXO |
 |
 |
|||
| 11957 | 2014.01.17 | 14 | 43 | 24 | N11W19 | 0090 | DAI | DAC |
 |
 |
beta-gamma-delta area: 0220 |
| 11958 | 2014.01.17 | 2 | 6 | 3 | S08E09 | 0030 | HAX | CSO |
 |
 |
area: 0050 |
| 11962 | 2014.01.17 2014.01.20 |
S37W23 | plage | ||||||||
| S3032 | 2014.01.17 | S14W28 | plage | ||||||||
| 11959 | 2014.01.17 2014.01.18 |
11 | 31 | 18 | S23E20 | 0120 | EAO | EHO |
 |
 |
beta-gamma area: 0350 |
| 11960 | 2014.01.17 2014.01.18 |
2 | 10 | 7 | S15E22 | 0270 | HKX | CHO |
 |
 |
area: 0510 |
| S3035 | 2014.01.17 | S32W35 | plage | ||||||||
| S3036 | 2014.01.18 | N10W29 | plage | ||||||||
| S3038 | 2014.01.18 | 4 | 2 | N00E18 | 0015 | BXO |
 |
 |
|||
| S3039 | 2014.01.18 | 6 | 4 | S22W08 | 0020 | BXO |
 |
 |
|||
| S3040 | 2014.01.18 | S18E13 | plage | ||||||||
| S3041 | 2014.01.18 | S06W56 | plage | ||||||||
| S3043 | 2014.01.19 | S15W41 | plage | ||||||||
| 11963 | 2014.01.19 2014.01.21 |
3 | 12 | 5 | S06E44 | 0010 | BXO | CRO |
 |
 |
area: 0030 |
| 11961 | 2014.01.19 2014.01.20 |
5 | 9 | 4 | S11W62 | 0050 | DSO | DAO |
 |
 |
area: 0080 |
| S3046 | 2014.01.19 | S38W48 | plage | ||||||||
| S3048 | 2014.01.20 | N07E17 | plage | ||||||||
| S3049 | 2014.01.20 | S10W04 | plage | ||||||||
| S3050 | 2014.01.20 | S09W36 | plage | ||||||||
| 11964 | 2014.01.20 2014.01.21 |
2 | 2 | 2 | S13E40 | 0010 | AXX | BXO |
 |
 |
|
| 11965 | 2014.01.20 2014.01.22 |
2 | 3 | 3 | S15E59 | 0020 | HRX | HRX |
 |
 |
area: 0040 |
| S3053 | 2014.01.20 | S08W20 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| S3054 | 2014.01.21 | S20E35 |
 |
plage | |||||||
| S3055 | 2014.01.21 | 2 | 1 | N15E58 | 0010 | BXO |
 |
 |
|||
| S3057 | 2014.01.22 | 1 | 1 | N06E75 | 0004 | AXX |
 |
||||
| Total spot count: | 44 | 158 | 86 | ||||||||
| Sunspot number: | 144 | 308 | 236 | (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions) | |||||||
| Weighted SN: | 87 | 209 | 137 | (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): | 86 | 108 | 130 | k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC, k = 0.35 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011.11 | 153.5 (cycle peak) | 96.7 (cycle peak) | 61.1 (+1.2) | 5.55 |
| 2012.02 | 106.5 | 32.9 | 66.9 (+1.4) possible cycle 24 max |
8.81 |
| 2012.10 | 123.3 | 53.3 | 58.6 (+0.5) | 9.97 |
| 2012.11 | 121.3 | 61.8 | 59.7 (+1.1) | 7.08 |
| 2012.12 | 108.6 | 40.8 | 59.6 (-0.1) | 3.44 |
| 2013.01 | 127.1 | 62.9 | 58.7 (-0.9) | 4.69 |
| 2013.02 | 104.3 | 38.0 | 58.4 (-0.3) | 6.11 |
| 2013.03 | 111.3 | 57.9 | 57.5 (-0.9) | 10.56 |
| 2013.04 | 124.8 | 72.4 | 57.9 (+0.4) | 5.40 |
| 2013.05 | 131.4 | 78.7 | 59.9 (+2.0) | 9.73 |
| 2013.06 | 110.1 | 52.5 | 62.6 (+2.7) | 12.60 |
| 2013.07 | 115.5 | 57.0 | (65.4 projected, +2.8) | 9.47 |
| 2013.08 | 114.6 | 66.0 | (67.8 projected, +2.4) | 8.27 |
| 2013.09 | 102.6 | 36.9 | (70.1 projected, +2.3) | 5.23 |
| 2013.10 | 132.1 | 85.6 | (70.0 projected, -0.1) | 7.71 |
| 2013.11 | 148.3 | 77.6 | (68.1 projected, -1.9) | 5.68 |
| 2013.12 | 147.7 | 90.3 | (67.4 projected, -0.7) | 4.68 |
| 2014.01 | 161.5 (1) | 96.0 (2A) / 135.2 (2B) / 103.8 (2C) | (67.6 projected, +0.2) | (5.9) |
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 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.
