Space Weather Exhibition Room/INPE-SJC
SUN
Forecaster 1: During the week between March 10-16, were recorded at least 15 M-class Flares and one X-class Flare. All those Flares was emitted from sunspot 12297. We observed a coronal hole situated on the Southern Hemisphere of the solar disc. We observed a CME associated with a M-class flare occurred on March 7, around 2300 UT. The high solar activity is forecast for next week, because the current configuration of the sunspot 12297 is complex (Beta/Gama/Delta).
INTERPLANETARY MEDIUM AND MAGNETOSPHERE
Forecaster 2: ACE satellite data recorded a decreasing of the solar wind velocity from March 08. According to forecast models, the CME would reach the Earth on March 12; however, there are indications that the CME reached the Earth on March 11. The cosmic rays data is in accordance with this hypothesis. We observed a sector boundary crossing in March 15, after that several perturbations on the solar wind parameters were observed. ACE satellite data showed that the proton flux increased on March 12 and 15. The outer radiation belt observed by Van Allen Probes presented a low decreasing of the high-energy electron flux from Lstar=5 for two periods, March 10-16 and March 12-13.
MAGNETIC EARTH
Forecaster 3: The week was considered quite due to the configuration of the magnetic field for most of the time. Therefore, some isolated perturbations with low magnitude were recorded during this week. The Dst index oscillated around zero. The AE index reach 500 nT in some periods and Kp index has been below 3 in several periods. We observed an increasing in H component for all stations of the Embrace Magnetometer Network. This pattern in H component was coincident with X-class Flare occurred in March 11, around 1630 UT.
ATMOSPHERE EARTH
Forecaster 4: The TEC observed in São Luis and São José dos Campos stations presented a increasing of the 3-5 TEC due the X-class Flare. The ionosonde data showed a total and partial blackout of the frequency radio. It was observed scintillations during all nights between 1930 UT – 0130 UT. We also observed plasma bubble and gravity waves in Boa Vista (March 10, 11, 12) and Cariri (March 11 and 12).
Translated by Ligia da Silva