[Ips-msgr] IPS Monthly Report - February 03

rwc rwc at ips.gov.au
Tue Mar 4 10:52:36 EST 2003


SUBJ: IPS MONTHLY SUMMARY - FEBRUARY 2003
ISSUED BY IPS RADIO AND SPACE SERVICES
FROM THE AUSTRALIAN SPACE FORECAST CENTRE

1.     SOLAR-GEOPHYSICAL INDICES

                 SOLAR    AUST       AUST
Day         10 cm flux   A-INDEX   T INDEX
01-Feb         126       15       79
02-Feb         127       38       36
03-Feb         133       19       34
04-Feb         135       26       58
05-Feb         140       15       99
06-Feb         150       15      126
07-Feb         157       13      113
08-Feb         139       14       94
09-Feb         141       11      126
10-Feb         136       16       70
11-Feb         135       13      112
12-Feb         132       12       95
13-Feb         131        8      109
14-Feb         131       15      125
15-Feb         124       17      135
16-Feb         119       18       98
17-Feb         112       14      108
18-Feb         110       25       96
19-Feb         116       15       96
20-Feb         118       17      117
21-Feb         120       12       97
22-Feb         107       11      109
23-Feb         104       11       95
24-Feb         102        7      109
25-Feb         102        6      112
26-Feb         109       18       95
27-Feb         118       22       72
28-Feb         125       17       60

          10 CM    SUNSPOT  SUNSPOT  AUST     AUST     No of
          FLUX     NUMBER   NUMBER   A-INDEX  T INDEX  FLARES
          Monthly  Monthly  Yearly   Monthly  Monthly  >M1.0 
Month     Average  Average  Average  Average  Average 
Feb 02     205.2    108.0    114.7     11.1    154.4   19
Mar 02     179.5     98.1    113.3     10.4    165.1   15
Apr 02     189.5    120.4    110.4     11.2    143.2   17
May 02     178.4    120.8    108.8      8.4    133.0   16
Jun 02     148.8     88.5    106.2      6.2    113.9    4
Jul 02     174.5     99.9    102.7      8.8    108.6   35
Aug 02     184.0    116.4     98.7     11.2    133.5   45
Sep 02     175.9    109.3     94.9p     9.8    137.7   12
Oct 02     167.0     97.5     91.4p    15.7    119.7   22
Nov 02     168.7     95.0     86.7p    14.5    121.1   11
Dec 02     157.2     81.6     83.2p    13.0    124.5   10
Jan 03     144.0     79.5     80.4p    12.9    111.6    7
Feb 03     125.0     46.2     76.1p    15.7     95.5    3

               Monthly T indices
       Jan   Feb   Mar   Apr   May   Jun   Jul   Aug   Sep   Oct   Nov   Dec
1992   153   172   155   134    95    80    88    66    68    66    84    90  
1993    74    77    79    63    63    64    62    50    37    40    34    43  
1994    57    41    42    26    15    14    23    18    20    20    20    20  
1995    24    33    23    13     3    11    13    10    13     9    13     7  
1996    12     7     4     2     5     2     3     4     4     3    11    15  
1997    14    11    10     8    11     5     9    17    32    27    28    38  
1998    40    41    43    56    46    56    76    75    86    70    74    93  
1999    94    81    89    77    98   124   124   105    89    92   123   113  
2000   108   120   157   152   129   128   148   139   123   129   135   141  
2001   129   130*  135*  123   111   131   111   112   143   151   154   159  
2002   169   172   167   137   128*  119*  111*  132*  138*  120*  113*  120* 
2003    94^   88^   81^   75^   69^   63^   58^   55^   52^   50^   47^   45^ 
2004    43^   41^   39^   37^   35^   33^   31^   29^   28^   26^   24^   23^ 
2005    21^   20^   19^   17^   16^   15^   14^   13^   12^   11^   10^    9^ 
2006     8^    8^    7^    6^    6^    5^    5^    5^    4^    4^    4^    4^ 
2007     4^    5^    5^    6^    7^    8^    9^   11^   13^   16^   18^   21^ 
2008    25^   28^   32^   36^   41^   45^   50^   54^   59^   64^   68^   73^ 
* = New data. T index may have changed.
^ = IPS predicted T index.

===============================================================================

2.     FLARES AND SHORT-WAVE FADEOUTS 
DATE             CLASS M    CLASS X     FLARE     FADEOUT POSSIBLE ON
                 FLARES     FLARES      MAX       DAYLIGHT HF CIRCUIT
01 Feb 03	 M1.2               	0905UT
06 Feb 03	 M1.2               	0349UT
14 Feb 03	 M1.2/SF            	0918UT

2.1     Comments on Solar Activity.
Solar activity was at predominately low levels 
this month.  Only 3 low level M class xray flare 
events were observed over the month. 

The monthly mean sunspot number for this month was 46.2.
This is a rather low figure compared to previous months, 
and with only three low level M class flares observed 
during February this may seem to imply an earlier than 
expected arrival of solar minimum. However, some variability 
in sunspot number is to be expected from month to month and 
whilst we are in the declining phase of this cycle, near future 
monthly mean sunspot number values are not expected 
to be consistently below this month's low value. 



===============================================================================

3.     GEOMAGNETIC DISTURBANCES              (for Australian Region)

DATE                     COMMENTS
01-05 Feb 03:  Active periods, with major storm periods on 02 Feb and minor
	       storm periods on 03-04 Feb.
   10 Feb 03:  Active periods
15-16 Feb 03:  Active periods
   18 Feb 03:  Isolated minor to major storm period
   20 Feb 03:  Active periods
   26 Feb 03:  Active periods
   27 Feb 03:  Isolated Minor Storm period
   28 Feb 03:  Quiet to Active

The disturbed days of 02-03 Feb appeared to be due to an erupting
solar filament on 30 Jan, with a possible weak underlying recurrent
pattern of activity. 02 Feb was the most disturbed day of the
month with a local A index of 38. Other disturbed intervals 
during the month are believed to be associated with solar
coronal hole high speed wind streams.

===============================================================================

4.     IONOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES              (for Australian Region)
02 Feb 03: Northern region MUFs depressed 35%
	   Southern region MUFs depressed 18%
03 Feb 03: Northern region MUFs depressed 21%
	   Southern region MUFs depressed 24%
04 Feb 03: Northern region MUFs depressed 15%
10 Feb 03: Northern region MUFs depressed 11%
12 Feb 03: Northern region MUFs depressed 11%
	   Southern region MUFs depressed 15%
17 Feb 03: Southern region MUFs depressed 15%
18 Feb 03: Southern region MUFs depressed 15%
28 Feb 03: Northern region MUFs depressed 18%

The deepest MUF depressions for the month were observed 
on 02 and 03 Feb, with observed regional T indices of 36 
and 34 respectively.

===============================================================================

5.     IPS WARNINGS AND ALERTS ISSUED

WARNINGS:
HF RADIO WARNING:
ISSUE DATE      NO       BEGIN           END
01 Feb 03	05	01 Feb 03	02 Feb 03
03 Feb 03	06	03 Feb 03	03 Feb 03
03 Feb 03	07	04 Feb 03	04 Feb 03
04 Feb 03	08	05 Feb 03	05 Feb 03
07 Feb 03	09	08 Feb 03	08 Feb 03
09 Feb 03	10	10 Feb 03	10 Feb 03
17 Feb 03	11	17 Feb 03	18 Feb 03
28 Feb 03	12	01 Mar 03	01 Mar 03



GEOMAGNETIC WARNING:
ISSUE DATE      NO       BEGIN           END
01 Feb 03	03	01 Feb 03	02 Feb 03
03 Feb 03	04	03 Feb 03	03 Feb 03
04 Feb 03	05	04 Feb 03	06 Feb 03


ALERTS: 
01 Feb 03: Flare Alert
01 Feb 03: Geomagnetic
02 Feb 03: Geomagnetic
03 Feb 03: Geomagnetic
04 Feb 03: Geomagnetic
10 Feb 03: Geomagnetic
18 Feb 03: Geomagnetic
27 Feb 03: Geomagnetic


SWF ALERTS AND DURATION REPORTS
DATE	SWF BEGIN-END (UT)
06 Feb 03: SWF Alert (0339-0359 UT)


IPS Radio and Space Services      | email: asfc at ips.gov.au
PO Box 1386                       | WWW: http://www.ips.gov.au
Haymarket NSW 1240  AUSTRALIA     | FTP: ftp://ftp.ips.gov.au 
tel: +61 2 9213 8010              | fax: +61 2 9213 8060 



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