Space Weather
Space Weather
Space weather describes changing environmental conditions in near-Earth space. Magnetic fields, radiation, particles and matter, which have been ejected from the Sun, can interact with the Earth’s upper atmosphere and surrounding magnetic field to produce a variety of effects.
Space weather notifications
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Aurora forecasts
Northern Hemisphere
Earth is currently under the influence of coronal hole fast winds, which will begin to wane in the coming days. Geomagnetic activity will ease through Monday and into Tuesday, with any viewing of the aurora becoming more restricted to highest latitudes, and fading to background by Wednesday.
Southern Hemisphere
Earth is currently under the influence of coronal hole fast winds, which will begin to wane in the coming days. Geomagnetic activity will ease through Monday and into Tuesday, with any viewing of the aurora becoming more restricted to Antarctica, and fading to background by Wednesday.
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Forecast overview
Space Weather Forecast Headline: Reducing Chance of G1/Minor storm intervals day 1 (20 Apr).
Analysis of Space Weather Activity over past 24 hours
Solar Activity: Very Low with no significant flares. There are two sunspot regions on the visible disc, both magnetically simple and relatively inactive. The largest is a bipolar region, which is now moving into the western hemisphere. A very simple and mature unipolar spot is located in the southwest.
A filament lift-off (arc of plasma) in the southeast quadrant was observed at 19/1600UTC. A narrow Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) was observed in imagery, which is currently undergoing analysis for any potential Earth-directed component.
No other Earth-directed CMEs have been observed in imagery.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: Earth is currently under the influence of a coronal hole fast wind. Solar wind speeds have been slightly elevated to elevated, ranging between 450km/s to 550km/s. Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF), was Moderate to Weak. The north-south component, fluctuated between positive and negative. Geomagnetic activity was Quiet to Active (Kp2-4), with a G1/Minor Storm (Kp5) interval observed 19/0600-0900 UTC.
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: The count rate of energetic particles (high energy protons) was at Background with no solar radiation storms observed.
Four-Day Space Weather Forecast Summary
Solar Activity: Low or Very Low activity expected, with only a slight chance of isolated Moderate class flares, most likely from the region in the north-centre disc.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: CME arrivals are currently not expected. Otherwise fast winds of CH42 are expected to continue, with a gradual decline through the period. Geomagnetic activity easing to be Quiet to Active by the end of day 1 (20 Apr) and through to day 4 (23 Apr), but still with a reducing chance to slight chance of G1 Minor Storms, especially at first.
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: The count rate of energetic particles (high energy protons) is forecast to persist at Background with no solar radiation storms forecast.
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Solar imagery
SDO AIA-193
This channel highlights the outer atmosphere of the Sun - called the corona - as well as hot flare plasma. Hot active regions, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections will appear bright here. The dark areas - called coronal holes - are places where very little radiation is emitted, yet are the main source of solar wind particles.
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SDO AIA-304
This channel is especially good at showing areas where cooler dense plumes of plasma (filaments and prominences) are located above the visible surface of the Sun. Many of these features either can't be seen or appear as dark lines in the other channels. The bright areas show places where the plasma has a high density.
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