Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on September 23, 2015 at 05:20 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 (September 16, 2015)  

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to active on September 22. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 459 and 695 km/s. An unexpected disturbance began early in the day and caused a single active interval. The Bz component of the interpanetary magnetic field was mostly northwards after 07h UT which led to quiet geomagnetic conditions after 09h UT.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 107.0 (decreasing 11.7 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 105.6. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 9 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 8.9). Three hour interval K indices: 22422211 (planetary), 22423321 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B3 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 10 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 196) and 10 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 147) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12415 [S19W78] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12418 [S15W48] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12420 [N10E49] was quiet and gained spots. The region has polarity intermixing. C and minor M class flares are possible.
New region 12421 [N15E33] emerged on September 20 and developed quickly on September 21 with SWPC numbering the region the following day.
New region 12422 [S20E51] emerged early in the day with several spots.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S4766 [N18E06] was quiet and stable.
S4772 [S13W18] was quiet and stable.
S4774 [S09E07] developed slowly and quietly.
New region S4776 [S14W04] emerged with a few spots.
New region S4777 [N03W40] emerged with a penumbra spot.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR Recorded by Comment
           

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

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

September 20: A partial halo CME was observed after an M2 LDE in AR 12415. It is uncertain if this CME has any Earth directed components.
September 21-22: 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 recurrent trans equatorial coronal hole (CH691) rotated across the central meridian on September 21-22.

Propagation

Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over upper middle latitudes is poor to fair. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on September 23. If the CME observed on September 20 reaches Earth active and minor storm intervals will be possible. Effects from CH691 could cause quiet to minor storm conditions on September 24-25.

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
12415 2015.09.10
2015.09.11
3 3 1 S18W81 0160 DSO HAX

area: 0060

location: S19W78

12418 2015.09.12
2015.09.13
3 10 3 S15W49 0170 CAO CAO images/AR_12418_20150922_2345.png images/AR_12418_20150921_2345.png area: 0250
12419 2015.09.13
2015.09.15
      N13W46          
S4761 2015.09.16       N23W32            
S4766 2015.09.18   9 4 N18E06 0020   BXO images/AR_S4766_20150922_2345.png images/AR_S4766_20150921_2345.png  
S4767 2015.09.18       S27W18            
12420 2015.09.19
2015.09.20
13 36 21 N10E50 0280 EKC EKI area: 0460
12421 2015.09.20
2015.09.22
7 14 5 N15E32 0010 BXO DAO area: 0070

SWPC area and classification not supported by imagery

S4772 2015.09.20   2 1 S13W18 0004   AXX  
S4773 2015.09.21       S18E15          
S4774 2015.09.21   9 3 S09E07 0020   BXO  
12422 2015.09.22 3 9 6 S20E49 0010 BXO DRO   area: 0060

location: S20E51

S4776 2015.09.22   3 2 S14W04 0008   BXO    
S4777 2015.09.22   1 1 N03W40 0007   AXX    
Total spot count: 29 96 47  
Sunspot number: 79 196 147  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 49 124 75  (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): 87 108 125 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) 14.58
2015.09 (94.7)   41.3 (2A) / 56.3 (2B) / 71.6 (2C) (67.0 projected, +0.3) (19.6)

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).
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.