Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on September 12, 2015 at 07:15 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 unsettled to severe storm on September 11. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 381 and 666 km/s. While there was no evidence of a CME in solar wind data, an analysis of the most likely sources of the strong disturbance points to CH689 and a co-rotating interaction region ahead of the western and southern parts of this very large coronal hole. Both the high solar wind speed and the timing of the disturbance compared to the leading edge of CH689 makes this the most likely explanation.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 92.8 (increasing 2.6 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 109.3. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 55 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 54.9). Three hour interval K indices: 34765734 (planetary), 26554533 (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 9 active regions using 2K resolution (SN:161) and 9 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 128) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12411 [N14W27] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12412 [S07W08] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12414 [S10W19] developed very quickly as flux emerged rapidly. Weak polarity intermixing is observed and there is a minor chance of a minor M class flare.
New region 12415 [S21E69] rotated into view on September 10 and was numbered by SWPC the next day. C flares are likely and there is a minor chance of an M class event.
New region 12416 [S12W36] emerged on September 10 and received its NOAA number the next day.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4743 [N21W04] was quiet and stable.
S4746 [N23W36] was quiet and stable.
New region S4752 [S00E50] emerged near the equator with a penumbra spot.
New region S4753 [N10W73] emerged near the northwest limb 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 9-11: 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 large northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH689) will be in an Earth facing position on September 9-14.

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 quiet to active on September 12-17 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
      N06W80            
12410 2015.09.02
2015.09.03
      S19W88            
12411 2015.09.03
2015.09.04
1 1 1 N15W28 0020 HAX HRX  
12412 2015.09.05
2015.09.06
9 14 7 S07W09 0020 CRI CRI  
S4743 2015.09.07   4 2 N21W04 0010   AXX  
S4744 2015.09.07       N07E16          
S4745 2015.09.07       S12W55            
S4746 2015.09.07   5 3 N23W36 0012   BXO  
12414 2015.09.08
2015.09.09
10 27 14 S10W20 0080 DAI DKI beta-gamma

area: 0440

12415 2015.09.10
2015.09.11
7 14 7 S21E68 0100 DAO DAI area: 0160
12416 2015.09.10
2015.09.11
2 3 2 S13W36 0010 BXO DRO  
S4750 2015.09.10       N05W41          
S4752 2015.09.11   1 1 S00E50 0003   AXX    
S4753 2015.09.11   2 1 N10W73 0008   AXX    
Total spot count: 29 71 38  
Sunspot number: 79 161 128  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 47 95 62  (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): 87 89 109 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 (86.4)   15.6 (2A) / 42.6 (2B) / 64.1 (2C) (67.0 projected, +0.3) (22.2)

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.