Viewing archive of Wednesday, 17 March 2021

Daily bulletin on solar and geomagnetic activity from the SIDC

Issued: 2021 Mar 17 1230 UTC

SIDC Forecast

Valid from 1230 UTC, 17 Mar 2021 until 19 Mar 2021
Solar flares

Quiet conditions (<50% probability of C-class flares)

Geomagnetism

Active conditions expected (A>=20 or K=4)

Solar protons

Quiet

10cm fluxAp
17 Mar 2021079003
18 Mar 2021077004
19 Mar 2021077023

Bulletin

Solar activity was very low in the past 24 hours, no C-class flares were recorded. NOAA Active Region (AR) 2808 has decayed into a plage region. The new active region, is now numbered as Catania group 81 (NOAA AR 2810) and has been quiet. Overall, solar activity is expected to remain at very low levels, with a small chance of a C-class flare.

A back-sided partial halo Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) was first seen at 10:24 UT on the 16th March in LASCO-C2 images. It is not expected to arrive at Earth. No Earth-directed CMEs have been observed in the available coronagraph data.

The greater than 10 MeV proton flux was at nominal levels over the past 24 hours and is expected to remain so for the next 24 hours. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux exceeded the 1000 pfu threshold during the last 24 hours and is expected to remain above the threshold for the next 24 hours. The 24h electron fluence was at moderate levels and it is expected to remain at this level in the next 24 hours.

Solar wind speed continued to decrease in the last 24 hours with values between 400 km/s and 340 km/s. The total interplanetary magnetic field was between 0 and 6 nT during the last 24 hours. The magnetic field phi angle switched from negative to mostly positive after approximately 18:00 UT March 16th. Solar wind conditions are expected to generally reflect a slow solar wind regime during March 17th and 18th. On March 19th the solar wind high speed stream associated with the corona hole, which crossed that solar central meridian on 17th March, is expected to arrive.

Geomagnetic conditions were at quiet levels (NOAA Kp 0-2 and local K Dourbes 1-2). Geomagnetic conditions are expected to be at quiet levels over the next 24 hours. However, the geomagnetic conditions are expected to reach active levels on the 19th March, due to the expected high speed stream.

Today's estimated international sunspot number (ISN): 011, based on 11 stations.

Solar indices for 16 Mar 2021

Wolf number Catania///
10cm solar flux079
AK Chambon La Forêt007
AK Wingst003
Estimated Ap002
Estimated international sunspot number020 - Based on 20 stations

Noticeable events summary

DayBeginMaxEndLocStrengthOP10cmCatania/NOAARadio burst types
None

Provided by the Solar Influences Data analysis Center© - SIDC - Processed by SpaceWeatherLive

All times in UTC

<< Go to daily overview page

G1 - Minor geomagnetic storm

Observed Kp: 5
Threshold reached: 21:40 UTC

Current data suggests there is a slight possibility for aurora to appear at the following high latitude regions in the near future

Oulu, Rovaniemi, Kuopio
Trondheim
Arkhangelsk
Luleå, Sundsvall, Umeå
The strength of the interplanetary magnetic field is moderate (13.32nT), the direction is North (6.83nT).
The Disturbance Storm Time index predicts strong storm conditions right now (-131nT)

Latest news

Support SpaceWeatherLive.com!

A lot of people come to SpaceWeatherLive to follow the Sun's activity or if there is aurora to be seen, but with more traffic comes higher server costs. Consider a donation if you enjoy SpaceWeatherLive so we can keep the website online!

Donate SpaceWeatherLive Pro
Support SpaceWeatherLive with our merchandise
Check out our merchandise

Latest alerts

21:45 UTC - Geomagnetic activity

Minor G1 geomagnetic storm (Kp5) Threshold Reached: 21:36 UTC

alert


21:00 UTC - Geomagnetic activity

Severe G4 geomagnetic storm (Kp8) Threshold Reached: 20:55 UTC

alert


19:45 UTC - Geomagnetic activity

Strong G3 geomagnetic storm (Kp7) Threshold Reached: 19:25 UTC

alert


19:00 UTC - Geomagnetic activity

Moderate G2 geomagnetic storm (Kp6) Threshold Reached: 18:38 UTC

alert


18:45 UTC - Geomagnetic activity

Minor G1 geomagnetic storm (Kp5) Threshold Reached: 18:28 UTC

alert


Get instant alerts!

Space weather facts

Last X-flare2025/03/28X1.1
Last M-flare2025/04/15M1.2
Last geomagnetic storm2025/04/15Kp6+ (G2)
Spotless days
Last spotless day2022/06/08
Monthly mean Sunspot Number
March 2025134.2 -20.4
April 2025124.1 -10.1
Last 30 days124.7 -16.6

This day in history*

Solar flares
12002M3.66
22012M2.54
32001M1.68
42014M1.47
52002M1.33
DstG
12015-88G2
21973-79G2
32000-78
41971-73
52024-65G1
*since 1994

Social networks