Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on November 14, 2015 at 03:55 UT.

Charts (* = updated daily) Data and archive
  Solar wind (*) Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (*)
  Electron fluence (*) Archived daily reports and monthly data from 2003.01 (November 1, 2015)
Solar cycle Solar cycles 23-24 (November 1, 2015) Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (April 5, 2007)
  Cycle 24 progress (November 1, 2015) Noon SDO sunspot count 1K Reference: 4K (large file) (*)
  Solar cycles 1-24 (July 17, 2015) POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012
  Comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (November 1, 2015) 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013
  Comparison of cycles 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (November 1, 2015) 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014
  Solar polar fields vs. solar cycles (October 13, 2015)  

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on November 13. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 350 and 523 km/s. A high speed stream associated with CH699 became the dominant solar wind source after 10h UT.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 102.9 (decreasing 13.7 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 104.7. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 11 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 10.8). Three hour interval K indices: 21123333 (planetary), 11233333 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B2 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 8 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 126) and 6 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 76) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12448 [N04W39] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12449 [S10W22] decayed further and was quiet.
Region 12450 [S20W08] was quiet and stable.
Region 12452 [S11E16] decayed slowly and quietly.
New region 12453 [N06E06] emerged on November 12 and was numbered by SWPC the next day as the region began to decay.
New region 12454 [N08E69] rotated into view on November 12 with SWPC numbering the region the following day.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4884 [S13E37] lost the leader spot.
New region S4894 [N14E50] emerged with tiny spots.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR Recorded by Comment
           

Flare activity (SDO/EVE/ESP XRS-B proxy)

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

November 11-13: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in available LASCO 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 small southern hemisphere coronal hole (CH699) rotated across the central meridian on November 9-10. A recurrent northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH700) could rotate into an Earth facing position on November 14-15.

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 fair.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on November 14 due effects from CH699 and quiet on November 15-16. Quiet to active conditions are possible on November 17-19 due to effects from CH700.

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 overlays
Comment
SWPC Magnetic
(SDO)
SWPC STAR Current Previous
2K 1K
12451 2015.11.03
2015.11.07
      N05W62            
12448 2015.11.03
2015.11.04
2 6 2 N06W41 0010 AXX BXO

location: N04W39

12449 2015.11.06 2 7 3 S11W23 0020 CRO CRO  
12450 2015.11.06
2015.11.07
  5 2 S22W24 0010   BXO

location: S20W08

S4881 2015.11.09       S08W03            
S4882 2015.11.09       S24W36            
12452 2015.11.10
2015.11.11
  10 2 S08E14 0020   BXO location: S11E16
S4884 2015.11.10   2   S13E37 0010   AXX  
S4886 2015.11.10       S28W02            
S4887 2015.11.11       S23W52          
12453 2015.11.12
2015.11.13
4 10 5 N06E05 0010 BXO CRI area: 0030
12454 2015.11.12
2015.11.13
2 4 2 N08E66 0010 BXO DRO area: 0020
S4891 2015.11.12       N10W42          
S4892 2015.11.12       S14W40          
S4893 2015.11.12       N04E28          
S4894 2015.11.13   2   N14E50 0004   AXX    
Total spot count: 10 46 16  
Sunspot number: 50 126 76  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 13 55 25  (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): 55 69 65 k * (sunspot number)
As of July 1, 2015: k = 1.1 for SWPC, k = 0.55 for MSN 2K, k = 0.85 for MSN 1K (MSN=Magnetic Sunspot Number)

Monthly solar cycle data

Month Average solar flux International sunspot number
(WDC-SILSO) (4)
Smoothed sunspot number (4) Average ap
(3)
Measured 1 AU
2014.02 170.3
(cycle peak)
166.3 146.1 (cycle peak) 110.5 (+1.2) 10.70
2014.04 143.9 144.8 112.5 116.4 (+2.1) (solar max) 7.88
2014.09 146.6 148.1 130.0 101.9 (-6.4) 9.78
2014.10 153.4 152.9 90.0 97.3 (-4.6) 8.96
2014.11 154.8 151.4 103.6 94.7 (-2.6) 9.33
2014.12 158.7 153.8 112.9 92.2 (-2.5) 11.24
2015.01 141.9 137.3 93.0 89.3 (-2.9) 9.46
2015.02 129.1 126.0 66.7 86.1 (-3.2) 9.92
2015.03 125.9 124.6 54.5 82.2 (-3.9) 16.14
2015.04 128.8 129.7 75.3 78.9 (-3.3) 10.73
2015.05 120.0 122.6 88.8 (76.3 projected, -2.6) 8.29
2015.06 122.3 126.1 66.5 (72.6 projected, -3.7) 13.15
2015.07 107.0 110.8 66.4 (68.9 projected, -3.7) 8.83
2015.08 105.4 108.0 64.6 (67.7 projected, -1.2) 14.58
2015.09 101.7 102.7 78.1 (68.0 projected, +0.3) 15.78
2015.10 104.1 103.3 61.7 (67.1 projected, -0.9) 14.02
2015.11 (111.5)   31.8 (2A) / 73.5 (2B) / 91.1 (2C) (65.0 projected, -2.1) (18.0)

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).
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.
4) Updated to new data set from WDC-SILSO on July 1, 2015

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 Universal Time. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

SDO images are courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.