Coronal Hole Kicks up Solar Wind - Alert Issued

As predicted the solar wind has kicked up. Solar wind now at 553 km/sec. K4 Alert issued.

Kp-indices of 5 or greater indicate storm-level geomagnetic activity. Geomagnetic storms have been associated with satellite surface charging and increased atmospheric drag.

www.spaceweather.com...

www.swpc.noaa.gov...

Also we've been getting high pressure readings almost all day.

www2.nict.go.jp...

reply to post by Julie Washington


So there shouldn;t be any abnormal effects, right?

reply to post by GEORGETHEGREEK


No danger at all from a Kp4. If you're in Edmonton, Alberta - you might see the northern lights.

At Kp5 you might be able to see them in the northern US.

reply to post by GEORGETHEGREEK


No worries.

Just watching the sun's behavior.

K4 is considered active
K5 is considered minor storm
K6 is is major storm

When we get into k5 or k6 it can affect satellites, cell phones and such.
Major storms can affect electical grids.

The current k4 level was expected due to the coronal hole that opened up the other day which affects the solar wind.

How often do these coronal holes open up? Is that a normal thing?

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


I'm not sure. I know they come and go. It's just part of the Sun's cycle.

The post was not meant to alarm - but to alert those that are watching the sun's behavior since there has been so much interest lately.

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


Coronal holes are very common. They are the primary motivators of the solar wind.

SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 539.3 km/sec
density: 2.0 protons/cm3

where is everybody?? lol ...brokenheadphonez?

Speed, V : 524.3 km s-1
Temperature, T : 161914.6 k
Density, n : 2.6 particles cm-3
Pressure, P : 1.2 nPa

Little windy but nothing to worry about, not at the moment anyway

you know one thing that confuses me to hell ...

the sun has massive gravity and would pull things towards it, but at the same time theirs a wind going 500+kms !

basicly, if something was close to the sun, who would win?? would the sun suck it on or the wind blow it away ?

Here is a chart showing the the where you may see aurora's in the US durning diffrent K levels.

You may only see the aurora in California one time.


spaceweather.com...



Does any one know of a K index graph of the last 30+ days?

reply to post by Cyprex


This link shows history of many of the charts:

www.swpc.noaa.gov...

Under: Estimated Planetary Kp Plots click on the "ftp file" link.

reply to post by Julie Washington


Thanks much for that!

On June 24th it hit 5.



Same day the sun started to come alive again.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Here is the data from the 13/07/09 in AVI format.

Link to Video Download

All is well with the world...and will be still tomorrow when this dies out.

PRESTO FROM SIDC - RWC BELGIUM Tue Jul 14 2009, 1241 UT
Solar activity is very low and expected to remain so, due to the absence of sunspots. The solar wind speed started to increase yesterday due to the arrival of the fast stream from a coronal hole. It is now around 550 km/s. As a consequence, geomagnetic conditions were mostly unsettled with some active periods. They are expected to be unsettled today and return to quiet levels from tomorrow on.

Link: sidc.oma.be...