Solar Sector Boundary Crossing

     A solar sector boundary crossing (polarity of the IMF reverses) indicated by ACE data has been responsible for the unsettled geomagnetic field. A high latitude Aurora Watch will be in effect over the next 24-48 hours. A favorably positioned negative polarity coronal hole is expected to continue to keep our geomagnetic field unsettled through March 29, 2011 UTC.  Old Sunspot Region 1429 is expected to return to the solar disk midday on  March 29th which should increase M-class flare probabilities.

     SOHO LASCO observed a full asymmetric halo CME on the 26th @ 23:12 UTC which was associated with Type II & Type IV radio sweeps.  This CME was determined to be a backsided event according to NOAA and not expected to be geoeffective.

      Although there was a large Sf and CME from old Sunspot Region 1429 that contributed to this halo CME there was also a filament eruption from the NE limb immediatly after, followed by a C5.3 flare the 27th @ 02:50 UTC with an associated CME (seen on SDO) from Sunspot Region  1444.  We expect this latter CME to be geoeffective.

     Here on the left we can see a CME associated with the C5.3 Sf from Sunspot Region 1444 as seen from SDO AIA 304 on March 27th at 2:57UTC.

Sunspot 1444 Growing Fast

  We are seeing some rapid growth today within Sunspot Rregion 1444 located in the northeast region of the solar disk. Region 1444 is yet another reversed polarity sunspot located in the northern hemisphere of the solar disk. We are watching this Region for continued growth as it moves into a more Earth facing position.

  
   The last reversed polarity sunspot we saw was Sunspot Region 1429 (also located in the northern hemisphere) that started its earth facing activity with a M3.3 flare on March 2, 2012 . To the left, we can see old Region 1429 as it appears on the STEREO Behind EUVI 195 image from today. 1429 has survived its transit on the backside of the Sun, and should be coming back into an Earth facing position around March 28th-30th.
You can view all reports we did on sunspot region 1429 Here:
http://mysolaralerts.blogspot.com/search?q=1429&max-results=20&by-date=true


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M1.0 Flare With GOES 15 Back Online

   GOES 15 is working again as of 16:00 UTC today. Just a few hours into the Xray monitor being back in business, we have a "registered" M1.0 flare peaking at 19:40 UTC. This solar flare came from old sunspot region 1431 as it rotates back into a earth facing direction in the far southeast limb.

2012-03-23 16:50 UTC  SWPC GOES Data Again Available- Just in: GOES 15 xray, particle and magnetometer data are now again accessible as of about 1600 UTC (noon EDT) today. Imagery should be available again at approximately 1900 UTC.

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/

 

It's anyones guess on how many larger flares we have missed while the monitor was down.

Solar Activity Update - CME Impact + M1.8 Flare

   At 13:40 UTC March 15th a geomagnetic sudden impulse was detected indicating that the CME we were expecting today has arrived. This CME was produced in association with a M7.9 solar flare from Sunspot Region 1429 on March 13, 2012. Solar winds reaching as high as 770.5 km/s and a proton density as high as 4.7 p/cc have been picked up at the ACE satellite. With the high wind speed and the Bz tilted south (-) this CME impact is stiring up a G1-Kp5 geomagnetic storm at this time.

View original report here:

 http://mysolaralerts.blogspot.com/2012/03/strong-m79-flare-from-region-1429-march.html

Check back often for further updates and alerts on this event.

All updates will be added to the bottom of this report.

ACE Readings @ 14:49 UTC.
Thursday March 15, 2012:
Solar Wind: 697.7 km/sec
Density: 3.5 protons/cc
Bz: -7.2
By: -3.6

Space Weather Message Code: SUMSUD
Serial Number: 149
Issue Time: 2012 Mar 15 1314 UTC

SUMMARY: Geomagnetic Sudden Impulse
Observed: 2012 Mar 15 1309 UTC
Deviation: 27 nT
Station: Boulder