Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on July 27, 2014 at 07:20 UTC.

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

[POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated July 18, 2014]
[Presentations: 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf) / 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet on July 26. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 314 and 379 km/s, weakly under the influence of a low speed stream from CH628.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 117 (decreasing 8.7 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 132.6. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 6 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 6.0). Three hour interval K indices: 22221221 (planetary), 22332321 (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 8 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 149) and 6 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 124) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12121 [N08E16] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12122 [S12W00] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12123 [S13E16] developed in the trailing spot section. C class flaring is possible.
New region 12124 [S21E63] rotated into view on July 25 and decayed slowly on July 26 when it was numbered by SWPC.
New region 12125 [S12E70] rotated partly into view on July 25 with more spots becoming visible the next day.
New region 12126 [S09E17] emerged on July 24, decayed on July 25 and developed with new flux emerging on July 26. C flares are possible.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
New region S3672 [N20W03] emerged with penumbra spots.
New region S3673 [S14E53] was observed with a penumbra spot.

C2+ Flares (GOES):

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR
       

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

July 24-26: 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 recurrent trans equatorial coronal hole (CH628) rotated into an Earth facing position on July 23-24.

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 to fair.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on July 27-30.

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
12121 2014.07.21
2014.07.22
11 25 17 N08E17 0150 CAI DAI beta-gamma

area: 0240

12122 2014.07.21
2014.07.22
  1   S13W05 0002   AXX

location: S12W00

S3663 2014.07.22       N20W35           plage
12123 2014.07.22
2014.07.23
3 14 7 S15E13 0030 DSO DAO area: 0090
S3665 2014.07.22       N12W29         plage
S3667 2014.07.24       N09W39         plage
12126 2014.07.24
2014.07.26
8 15 12 S10E16 0030 CRO DRI location: S09E16

area: 0080

S3669 2014.07.24       S12W43           plage
12124 2014.07.25
2014.07.26
1 4 2 S21E64 0010 AXX BXO  
12125 2014.07.25
2014.07.26
3 7 3 S12E69 0020 CRO DAO area: 0060
S3672 2014.07.26   2 1 N20W03 0006   BXO    
S3673 2014.07.26   1   S14E53 0001   AXX    
Total spot count: 26 69 42  
Sunspot number: 76 149 102  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 42 87 60  (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): 46 52 56 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
2013.02 104.3 101.8 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 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 (78.2 projected, +2.2) 5.44
2014.02 170.3
(cycle peak)
166.3 102.3 (cycle peak) (79.7 projected, +1.5) 10.70
2014.03 149.9 148.5 91.9 (80.5 projected, +0.8) 4.88
2014.04 143.9 144.8 84.7 (79.7 projected, -0.8) 7.88
2014.05 129.7 132.9 75.2 (77.1 projected, -2.6) 5.75
2014.06 122.0 125.8 71.0 (74.5 projected, -2.6) 6.72
2014.07 136.8 (1)   91.8 (2A) / 109.5 (2B) / 82.6 (2C) (71.5 projected, -3.0) (4.4)

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.