Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on September 11, 2015 at 05:25 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 (September 1, 2015)
Solar cycle Solar cycles 23-24 (September 1, 2015) Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (April 5, 2007)
  Cycle 24 progress (September 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 (September 1, 2015) 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013
  Comparison of cycles 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (September 1, 2015) 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014
  Solar polar fields vs solar cycles (August 18, 2015)  

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to active on September 10. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 359 and 438 km/s. Solar wind speed and density increased slowly after 08h UT as the high speed stream from CH688 approached. Effects associated with CH688 caused unsettled to active conditions after noon.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 83.5 (decreasing 9.7 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 109.8. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 12 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 11.6). Three hour interval K indices: 31212343 (planetary), 31212433 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B1 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 10 active regions using 2K resolution (SN:162) and 8 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 100) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12411 [N14W13] decayed slowly and quietly losing most of the mature penumbra on the largest spot.
Region 12412 [S07E05] was quiet and stable.
Region 12414 [S10W05] gained spots as new trailing polarity flux emerged.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4743 [N27E17] was quiet and stable.
S4744 [N07E29] developed slowly and quietly.
S4746 [N22W23] was quiet and stable.
New region S4748 [S20E80] rotated into view with several spots.
New region S4749 [S12W22] emerged with a few spots.
New region S4750 [N05W28] emerged with penumbra spots.
New region S4751 [N21W56] emerged with penumbra spots

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR Recorded by Comment
           

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

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

September 8-10: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed.

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 trans equatorial coronal hole (CH688) was in an Earth facing position on September 7-8. A northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH689) will likely rotate into a potentially geoeffective position on September 11-12.

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 to active on September 11-12 due to effects from CH688, minor storm intervals are possible. Quiet to unsettled is likely on September 13 becoming quiet to active on September 14-16 due to effects from CH689.

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
12409 2015.08.31
2015.09.01
      N06W65            
12410 2015.09.02
2015.09.03
      S19W74            
12411 2015.09.03
2015.09.04
2 5 2 N14W13 0020 HSX CAO  
12412 2015.09.05
2015.09.06
6 19 11 S09E04 0030 CRO CRI location: S07E05
S4743 2015.09.07   1   N27E17 0002   AXX  
S4744 2015.09.07   5 2 N07E29 0012   BXO  
S4745 2015.09.07       S12W42            
S4746 2015.09.07   9 4 N22W23 0020   BXO  
12414 2015.09.08
2015.09.09
1 12 5 S10W09 0010 AXX BXO area: 0030
S4748 2015.09.10   5 3 S20E80 0040   DRO    
S4749 2015.09.10   3 2 S12W22 0015   CRO    
S4750 2015.09.10   2 1 N05W28 0004   AXX    
S4751 2015.09.10   1   N21W56 0003   AXX    
Total spot count: 9 62 30  
Sunspot number: 39 162 110  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 17 76 44  (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): 43 89 94 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
2014.05 129.7 132.9 112.5 115.0 (-1.4) 5.75
2014.06 122.0 125.8 102.9 114.1 (-0.9) 6.72
2014.07 137.4 141.8 100.2 112.6 (-1.5) 4.50
2014.08 124.7 127.9 106.9 108.3 (-4.3) 7.71
2014.09 146.6 148.1 130.0 101.9 (-6.4) 9.78
2014.10 153.4 152.9 90.0 97.4 (-4.5) 8.96
2014.11 154.8 151.4 103.6 95.0 (-2.4) 9.33
2014.12 158.7 153.8 112.9 92.6 (-2.4) 11.24
2015.01 141.9 137.3 93.0 89.8 (-2.8) 9.46
2015.02 129.1 126.0 66.7 86.6 (-3.2) 9.92
2015.03 125.9 124.6 54.5 (82.1 projected, -4.5) 16.14
2015.04 128.8 129.7 78.0 (78.0 projected, -4.1) 10.73
2015.05 120.0 122.6 90.0 (75.3 projected, -2.7) 8.29
2015.06 122.3 126.1 68.3 (71.6 projected, -3.7) 13.15
2015.07 107.0 110.8 66.4 (67.9 projected, -3.7) 8.83
2015.08 105.4 108.0 64.6 (66.7 projected, -1.2) 13.8
2015.09 (85.8)   13.0 (2A) / 39.0 (2B) / 62.9 (2C) (67.0 projected, +0.3) (18.9)

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).
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.