Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on May 16, 2016 at 05:05 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 (May 1, 2016)
Solar cycle Solar cycles 23-24 (May 1, 2016) Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (April 5, 2007)
  Cycle 24 progress (May 1, 2016) Noon SDO sunspot count 1K / 4K (*)
  Solar cycles 1-24 (July 17, 2015) POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012
  Comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (May 1, 2016) 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013
  Comparison of cycles 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (May 1, 2016) 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014
  Solar polar fields vs. solar cycles (April 20, 2016)  

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on May 15. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 349 and 506 km/s. Solar wind speed increased slowly all day as a high speed stream associated with CH734 became the dominant solar wind source.

Solar flux at 23h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 103.4 (increasing 8.8 over the last solar rotation, the measurements at 17 and 20h UT were flare enhanced). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 92.4. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 11 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 11.3). Three hour interval K indices: 32223331 (planetary), 32333332 (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 6 active regions using 2K resolution (SN:112) and 6 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 96) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12542 [N11W77] decayed slowly and was mostly quiet.
Region 12543 [S05W78] decayed slowly and was mostly quiet.
Region 12544 [N20W16] gained two minor magnetic deltas, one at the southwestern edge of the largest leading spot, another in a smaller penumbra in the trailing spot section. A minor M class flare is possible.
Region 12545 [S20W65] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12546 [S07E59] was quiet and stable.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
S5283 [S17E28] was quiet and stable.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UT) Location AR Recorded by Comment
C4.9 04:09   SWPC:12543
SDO: 12544
GOES15 Simultaneous flares noted in ARs 12543 and 12544. The flare in AR 12544 was clearly the brightest
C2.9 08:24 S05W63 12543 GOES15  
C3.2 (LDE) 16:03 N10W62 12542 GOES15 CME. Increased background solar flux until approx. 21h UT.

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

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

May 13-14: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in available LASCO imagery. The LDE in AR 12542 in the afternoon of May15 produced a wide CME, a CME which probably doesn't have Earth directed components.

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 northern hemisphere coronal hole (CH734) rotated across the central meridian on May 12-13, no disturbance was associated with the CH on the previous rotation. A recurrent trans equatorial extension (CH735) of the northern polar coronal hole will likely rotate into an Earth facing position on May 16-18.

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 May 16-17 due to effects from CH734 and quiet on May 18-19. May 20-21 could see quiet to minor storm conditions when CH735 becomes geoeffective.

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). 4K 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
12542 2016.05.03
2016.05.04
4 2 2 N11W77 0110 CAI HRX area: 0050
12543 2016.05.07
2016.05.08
3 4 2 S05W80 0030 CRO DRO

 

12545 2016.05.08
2016.05.10
4 8 6 S21W65 0070 CAO CRO  
12544 2016.05.09 14 32 21 N21W15 0150 DAI DAI beta-gamma-delta

area: 0240

S5277 2016.05.10       N08W56            
S5279 2016.05.12       S14W09            
S5280 2016.05.12       N09E35            
12546 2016.05.13
2016.05.14
2 4 3 S07E57 0410 HHX CHO area: 0620
S5283 2016.05.14   2 2 S17E28 0007   AXX  
Total spot count: 27 52 36  
Sunspot number: 77 112 96  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 55 76 60  (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): 85 62 77 k * (sunspot number)
As of May 7, 2016: k = 1.1 for SWPC, k = 0.55 for MSN 2K, k = 0.80 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
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 76.1 (-2.8) 8.29
2015.06 122.3 126.1 66.5 72.1 (-4.0) 13.15
2015.07 107.0 110.8 66.4 68.3 (-3.8) 8.83
2015.08 105.4 108.0 64.6 66.4 (-1.9) 14.58
2015.09 101.7 102.7 78.1 66.0 (-0.4) 15.78
2015.10 104.1 103.3 61.7 64.4 (-1.6) 14.02
2015.11 109.3 106.9 63.2 (61.2 projected, -3.2) 12.09
2015.12 113.1 109.5 57.7 (58.8 projected, -2.4) 14.29
2016.01 103.4 100.1 56.6 (57.1 projected, -1.7) 9.4
2016.02 103.6 101.0 57.2 (54.8 projected, -2.3) 9.9
2016.03 91.5 90.6 54.9 (51.9 projected, -2.9) 10.58
2016.04 93.3 94.0 38.0 (49.1 projected, -2.8) 9.03
2016.05 (91.5)   32.2 (2A) / 66.5 (2B) / 59.1 (2C) (47.2 projected, -1.9) (14.4)

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.