Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on February 14, 2018 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 since 2003.01 (January 2, 2018)
Solar cycle Solar cycles 23-24 (February 1, 2018) Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (April 5, 2007)
  Cycle 24 progress (February 1, 2018) / Cycle 25 spots Noon SDO sunspot count 1K image / 4K (*)
  Solar cycles 1-24 (July 17, 2015) POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012]
  Comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (February 1, 2018) 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013
  Comparison of cycles 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (February 1, 2018) 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014
  Solar polar fields vs. solar cycles (January 7, 2018)  

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was very quiet on February 13. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 285 and 306 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 75.9 (increasing 5.0 over the previous solar rotation). The average 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 69.7. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 3 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 2.6). Three hour interval K indices: 01110001 (planetary), 01101111 (Boulder)

The background x-ray flux is at the class A5 level.

At the time of counting spots (see image time), spots were observed in 3 active regions using 2K resolution (SN: 52) and in 1 active region using 1K resolution (SN: 24) SDO images on the visible solar disk.

Region 12699 [S07W41] decayed and was quiet.

Spotted regions not numbered (or interpreted differently) by SWPC:
New region S5904 [N17E25] emerged early in the day, then decayed.
New region S5905 [N16W04] emerged with a tiny spot.

C2+ flares:

Magnitude Peak time (UT) Location AR Recorded by Comment
           

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

February 11, 13: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in available LASCO imagery.
February 12: A partially Earth directed CME was observed after the C1 LDE in AR 12699 early in the day. The CME could reach Earth late on February 14 or early on February 15.

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 (CH851) will rotate across the central meridian on February 12-15. A new trans equatorial coronal hole (CH852) was Earth facing on February 9.

Propagation

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

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet on February 14. The CME observed early on February 12 could reach Earth late on February 14 or early on February 15 and cause unsettled to minor storm conditions. Effects from a high speed stream associated with CH851 could increase the disturbance level to isolated major storming. This could continue until February 18.

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
12698 2018.02.01
2018.02.02
      S03W88            
12699 2018.02.03 10 20 14 S07W44 0180 DSI DSI

area: 0300

S5901 2018.02.11       S11W29            
S5904 2018.02.13   1   N17E25 0001   AXX    
S5905 2018.02.13   1   N16W04 0001   AXX    
Total spot count: 10 22 14  
Sunspot number: 20 52 24  (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 15 27 19  (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): 22 29 19 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 10.70
2014.04 143.9 144.8 112.5 116.4 (solar max) 7.88
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 25.8 (-0.8) 14.20
2017.04 80.3 80.8 32.6 24.9 (-0.9) 11.70
2017.05 73.6 75.2 18.8 23.4 (-1.5) 8.09
2017.06 74.7 77.1 19.4 22.3 (-1.1) 6.08
2017.07 77.4 79.9 18.3 21.0 (-1.3) 8.97
2017.08 77.9 79.8 33.1 (19.3 projected, -1.7) 10.66
2017.09 91.3 92.3 43.6 (18.0 projected, -1.3) 18.22 (cycle peak)
2017.10 76.4 75.6 13.2 (16.6 projected, -1.4) 10.30
2017.11 72.2 70.6 5.7 (15.0 projected, -1.6) 10.06
2017.12 71.6 69.3 8.2 (14.1 projected, -0.9) 7.33
2018.01 69.9 67.7 6.7 (13.0 projected, -1.1) 5.1
2018.02 (74.8)   7.2 (2A) / 16.8 (2B) / 10.3 (2C) (11.3 projected, -1.7) (3.5)

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.