Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on September 14, 2014 at 05:05 UTC.

[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated daily)]
[Solar wind and electron fluence charts (updated daily)]
[Solar cycles 23-24 (last update September 1, 2014)] [Cycle 24 progress (last update September 1, 2014) ]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last update September 1, 2014)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (last update September 1, 2014)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update September 6, 2014)]

[POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated September 6, 2014]
[Presentations: 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf) / 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to active on September 13. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 461 and 855 km/s under the influence of CME effects. The interplanetary magnetic field was northwards all day resulting in a significant decrease in disturbance levels compared to the previous day.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 145 (increasing 29.9 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 133.1. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 12 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 12.5). Three hour interval K indices: 43412222 (planetary), 42423222 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B7 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 11 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 237) and 9 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 160) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12155 [S20W57] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12157 [S15W45] decayed in the leading spot section while the trailing spot section was fairly compact with polarity intermixing and possibly a small magnetic delta. The region produced an M1.5 flare at 02:16 UTC on September 14.
Region 12158 [N15W38] decayed slowly and was mostly quiet.
Region 12163 [S15W17] decayed as what was a single penumbra fragmented into several penumbrae.
Region 12164 [S13E10] developed further and has minor polarity intermixing. C flares are possible.
Region 12165 [S07E36] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12166 [N13E58] developed slowly and was mostly quiet.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S3811 [S23W26] decayed slowly and quietly.
S3813 [N12W08] reemerged with penumbra spots.
S3816 [S07E15] was quiet and stable.
New region S3820 [N10E29] was quiet and stable.

C2+ flares (GOES):

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR Comment
C2.3 00:04 S11W79 S3808 SWPC wrongly claims AR 12161 as the source, that AR rotated over the limb on Sept.12
C3.7 12:54 S19W37 12157  

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

September 11-13: 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]

No obvious coronal holes are currently in or near Earth facing positions.

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 most quiet on September 14-16.

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
12155 2014.09.03 2 2   S19W61 0010 BXO AXX location: S20W57
12157 2014.09.03
2014.09.04
26 28 12 S14W51 0220 EAI DAC beta-gamma-delta

location: S15W45

12156 2014.09.03
2014.09.04
      N15W70           plage
12158 2014.09.04 29 30 15 N16W39 0180 CAI DSI beta-gamma
12159 2014.09.05       S21W37           plage
12163 2014.09.06
2014.09.07
3 4 4 S16W17 0030 HAX HAX  
S3808 2014.09.08 2     S13W94   CAO     SWPC reused AR 12161 for this new region despite the real AR 12161 having rotated out of view the day before
S3811 2014.09.09   4   S23W26 0007   BXO  
12164 2014.09.09
2014.09.11
16 24 13 S13E02 0040 DSI DAI beta-gamma

area: 0150

S3813 2014.09.09   7 2 N12W08 0015   BXO images/AR_S3813_20140913_2345.png   plage
S3814 2014.09.09       N13W50           plage
12165 2014.09.10
2014.09.11
2 5 1 S08E37 0010 BXO BXO  
S3816 2014.09.11   3 2 S07E15 0008   AXX  
S3817 2014.09.11       N10E16         plage
12166 2014.09.12 5 18 10 N13E61 0030 CRO ERI location: N13E58
S3820 2014.09.13   2 1 N07E66 0008   AXX    
Total spot count: 85 127 70  
Sunspot number: 165 237 160  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 113 150 93  (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): 99 83 88 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
2013.05 131.4 134.3 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 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 (80.3 projected, +1.9) 4.88
2014.04 143.9 144.8 84.7 (81.0 projected, +0.7) 7.88
2014.05 129.7 132.9 75.2 (79.2 projected, -1.8) 5.75
2014.06 122.0 125.8 71.0 (76.6 projected, -2.6) 6.72
2014.07 137.4 141.8 72.5 (73.6 projected, -3.0) 4.50
2014.08 124.7 127.9 74.7 (70.1 projected, -3.5) 7.71
2014.09 148.5 (1)   61.8 (2A) / 142.6 (2B) / 83.4 (2C) (65.9 projected, -4.2) (9.6)

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.