show styles

19 July 2000
20000718 Week Rotation Today Rotation Week 20000720

Welcome to the Flare Prediction System. This page lists the active regions present on the Sun today, together with their probability of producing C-, M-, or X-class events. Flare probabilities are calculated using NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center data combined over 1969-1976 and 1988-1996 (details of which can be found in Bloomfield et al., 2012, The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 747, L41, along with full forecast verification testing). The percentage probabilities are based on the number of flares produced by regions classified using the McIntosh classification scheme (McIntosh, P., 1990, Solar Physics, 125, 251) during cycles 21 and 22. For example, over both time periods there were 377 regions classified Eai. As this class produced 131 M-class events, the mean M-class flare rate is ~131/377 or ~0.347 flares per day. Assuming the number of flares per unit time is governed by Poisson statistics, we can estimate a flaring probability for the following 24-hours using P( one or more flares ) = 1 - exp( -mean ), i.e., P = 1 - exp( -0.347 ) ~ 0.29, or 29% for an Eai class region to produce one or more M-class flares in the next 24-hours.

See Gallagher, P. T., Moon, Y.-J., Wang, H., Solar Physics, 209, 171, (2002),
Wheatland, M. S., 2001, Solar Physics, 203, 87 and Moon et al., 2001, Journal of Geophysical Research-Space Physics, 106(A12) 29951 for further details.

Click here for a description of the various active region classifications from the Royal Observatory of Belgium.

Region Flare Probabilities (%)
Number McIntosh C-class M-class X-class
No Prediction Found

NOTE: Occurrence of '...' indicates that McIntosh class was not observed in the period over which the Poisson flare rate statistics were determined. Values in parantheses/brackets give the NOAA/SWPC forecast probabilities for the occurrence of one or more C-, M-, or X-class flares. When viewed in real-time and before 22:00 UT, NOAA predictions are valid up to 22:00 UT on the current date. When viewed in real-time after 22:00 UT (or when viewing past dates), NOAA predictions are valid up to 22:00 UT on the following date. The most recent data can also be found at NOAA's 3-day Space Weather Predictions page.

Please contact Peter Gallagher if you have any comments or questions regarding this research.



Today's/Yesterday's NOAA Active Regions
NOAA Number
Latest
Position
Hale
Class
McIntosh Class
Sunspot Area
[millionths]
Number of Spots
Recent
Flares
09077 N18W72
(855",267")
βγ/βγ Eai/Eai 0200/0320 25/32 C3.4(16:07)
/ C4.1(22:56)
M3.3(19:34)
M1.9(04:59)
09079 S25W64
(770",-430")
α/α Hsx/Hsx 0050/0050 01/01 -
09080 N25W49
(647",351")
β/β Bxo/Bxo 0020/0070 04/09 -
09081 N04W36
(555",1")
β/β Cso/Cso 0070/0090 04/08 -
09082 S10W74
(895",-185")
β/β Dao/Dso 0050/0040 08/11 -
09084 N20W54
(720",278")
β/β Dao/Dao 0170/0160 11/10 -
09085 N12W20
(317",123")
β/βγ Eao/Eao 0300/0300 21/23 -
09087 S12W01
(16",-274")
βγδ/βγ Eai/Dai 0450/0250 36/26 C3.5(16:30)
M6.4(06:45)
C6.7(04:27)
/ C6.4(17:22)
M3.0(14:00)
C9.3(07:13)
09088 N22W36
(516",294")
β/β Dao/Dao 0170/0120 19/18 -
09090 N11E32
(-493",113")
βγ/βγ Fao/Fsi 0190/0250 20/17 -
09091 S07E27
(-427",-185")
β/β Cso/Cao 0070/0110 04/05 -
09092 S25W40
(551",-454")
β/β Dso/Bxo 0030/0030 06/05 -
09093 S12W21
(332",-269")
β/β Cso/Cso 0010/0010 02/03 -
09094 S25E37
(-516",-456")
α/α Hsx/Hsx 0060/0080 01/01 -
09095 N23W13
(196",297")
β/β Dao/Bxo 0050/0020 08/05 -
09096 S13E57
(-773",-254")
α/- Hsx/- 0060/- 01/- -
09097 N06E61
(-823",60")
β/- Dso/- 0200/- 02/- C3.6(21:55)
C5.8(18:34)
/ C2.8(10:53)

Class (HH:MM) -Today
Class (HH:MM) -Yesterday

Events not associated with currently named NOAA regions: C2.8(01:06) C2.2(03:37)

Note: The tabulated data are based on the most recent NOAA/USAF Active Region Summary issued on 19-Jul-2000 00:30 . The greyed out and light-blue entries are values from the previous day. Slashed cells indicate that the active region has no spots. The latest positions of the active regions are given in both heliographic and heliocentric co-ordinates. The region positions are valid on 19-Jul-2000 23:30 .