Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on September 6, 2017 at 05:00 UT. Update posted at 13:50 UT

Charts (* = updated daily) Data and archive
  Solar wind (*) Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (*)
  Electron fluence (*) Archived daily reports and monthly data since 2003.01 (August 2, 2017)
Solar cycle Solar cycles 23-24 (September 1, 2017) Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (April 5, 2007)
  Cycle 24 progress (September 1, 2017) 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 (September 1, 2017) 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013
  Comparison of cycles 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (September 1, 2017) 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014
  Solar polar fields vs. solar cycles (July 16, 2017)  

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to active on September 5 under the influence of effects from CH822. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 444 and 599 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 120.5 (increasing 48.9 over the previous solar rotation). The average 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 81.0. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 10 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 9.5). Three hour interval K indices: 43211221 (planetary), 33323331 (Boulder)

The background x-ray flux is at the class C1 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 6 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 183) and in 6 active regions using 1K resolution (SN: 126) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12673 [S09W28] lost some area but still has a strong magnetic delta where opposite polarity umbrae are very close to each other. X class flaring is possible.
Region 12674 [N13W14] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12676 [S09W77] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 12677 [N17E38] was quiet and stable.
New region 12678 [N10E46] emerged on September 4 and was numbered the next day by SWPC.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
New region S5790 [N17E00] emerged with tiny spots.

Update added at 13:50 UT: AR 12673 has produced 2 X flares today, first an impulsive X2.2 event at 09:10, then the strongest flare of cycle 24, an X9.3 proton event peaking at 12:02 UT. A CME associated with that X9 event could reach Earth late on September 7 or on September 8.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UT) Location AR Recorded by Comment
C9.8 00:35   12673 GOES15  
M4.2 01:08   12673 GOES15  
M1.0 03:51   12673 GOES15  
M3.2 04:53   12673 GOES15  
M3.8 06:40   12673 GOES15  
C5.4 10:19   12673 GOES15  
C2.2 12:34   12673 GOES15  
C6.9 13:34   12673 GOES15  
C3.7 16:19 S09W22 12673 GOES15  
C4.6 17:15 S09W24 12673 GOES15  
M2.3/1N 17:43 S09W24 12673 GOES15  

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

September 3, 5: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in available LASCO imagery.
September 4: A full halo CME was observed starting at 20:06 UT in LASCO C3 imagery. This CME will likely reach Earth during the latter half of September 6 and cause a strong geomagnetic disturbance.

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 southern hemisphere coronal hole (CH823) was in an Earth facing position on September 4-5.

Propagation

Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over upper middle latitudes is very poor due to a proton event, propagation could be affected for many days. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is poor to fair.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet initially on September 6, then become minor to severe storm when the September 4 CME reaches Earth. Active to major storm conditions will be likely on September 7-8.

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
12673 2017.08.28
2017.08.29
33 39 21 S09W30 0880 DKC DKC area: 0800

beta-gamma-delta

12674 2017.08.28
2017.08.29
23 55 33 N14W14 0680 FHI FKI area: 0800

beta-gamma

12675 2017.08.29
2017.08.31
1     S07W82 0010 BXO     rotated out of view
12676 2017.08.31
2017.09.02
2 4 2 S09W76 0030 BXO CRO  
12677 2017.09.02
2017.09.03
1 9 3 N18E39 0020 AXX CRO  
S5788 2017.09.02       S10E17            
12678 2017.09.04
2017.09.05
2 14 6 N11E45 0010 BXO DRI area: 0060
S5790 2017.09.05   2 1 N17E00 0005   HRX    
Total spot count: 62 123 66  
Sunspot number: 122 183 126  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 82 155 98  (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): 134 101 101 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
2016.04 93.3 94.0 38.0 47.8 (-2.7) 9.03
2016.05 93.0 95.3 52.1 44.9 (-2.9) 11.65
2016.06 81.9 84.5 20.9 41.6 (-3.3) 8.44
2016.07 86.0 88.9 32.5 38.6 (-3.0) 9.43
2016.08 85.0 87.1 50.7 36.0 (-2.6) 9.61
2016.09 87.7 88.7 44.7 33.3 (-2.7) 14.54
2016.10 86.1 85.6 33.6 31.4 (-1.9) 15.33
2016.11 78.6 76.9 21.4 29.9 (-1.5) 9.11
2016.12 75.1 72.8 18.9 28.5 (-1.4) 9.34
2017.01 77.3 74.9 25.8 27.9 (-0.6) 9.45
2017.02 76.8 75.0 26.1 26.6 (-1.3) 9.58
2017.03 74.6 73.9 17.7 (25.0 projected, -1.6) 14.20
2017.04 80.3 80.8 32.6 (23.4 projected, -1.6) 11.70
2017.05 73.6 75.2 18.8 (22.3 projected, -1.1) 8.09
2017.06 74.7 77.1 19.4 (21.3 projected, -1.0) 6.08
2017.07 77.4 79.9 18.3 (20.2 projected, -1.1) 8.97
2017.08 77.9 79.8 33.1 (18.7 projected, -1.5) 10.1
2017.09 (113.6)   15.3 (2A) / 94.6 (2B) / 43.0 (2C) (17.5 projected, -1.2) (13.2)

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.