Well Mashman - It appears the end is nigh!

[Jantar]

An update on the fear of earth's magnetic pole reversal here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/02/0...-storms-story/

[mashman]

An update on the fear of earth's magnetic pole reversal here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/02/0...-storms-story/

Interesting read... i wish they'd make their minds up in terms of solar max and ssn. 2013 eh. Wonder why they've been getting it "wrong" in the past? I assume the data isn't there given the "new" array of instruments they're using? Anyhoo, 2012 is postponed

[mashman]

The sun flexes its muscles (this morning). Takes a while to completely download (it should run smoothly), but when it's all there, great looking explosion

[mashman]

... and after the muscle flex comes some space weather... wonder if it'll knock anything out or did... i still can't grasp the time difference thing

[mashman]

looks like China got a bit of radio communication disruption... looks like NZ should be unaffected

[cave weta]

here comes another one....

copied from spaceweather.com

HIGH SOLAR ACTIVITY: Solar Cycle 24 is heating up. No fewer than three sunspots (1164, 1165, and 1166) are crackling with M-class solar flares, and each of them has a delta-class magnetic field capable of producing even more powerful X-flares. Scroll past the double flybys for information about a CME now heading our way...


INCOMING CME: The magnetic canopy of sunspot 1166 erupted on March 7th around 1400 UT, producing an M2-class solar flare and a bright coronal mass ejection (CME). Click on the image to launch a movie of the expanding plasma cloud:



The CME was not squarely directed at Earth. Nevertheless, the cloud will probably deliver a glancing blow to our planet's magnetic field on March 9th or 10th, possibly sparking polar geomagnetic storms. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

[mashman]

I've been watching the solar flux over the last few days... Anyhoo, from www.solarcycle24.com

M1.5 Flare / No Sunspots Needed: An M1.5 Solar Flare took place at 03:58 UTC Tuesday and was centered around the spotless plage region located in the south eastern quadrant of the visible solar disk.

M-Class Flares and two CME's - Several M-Class flares took place on Monday around Sunspots 1164, 1165 and 1166. Two Coronal Mass Ejections (CME's) did take place however both do not appear to be fully earth directed. These expanding clouds could deliver a minor blow to earths geomagnetic field within the next 72 hours. The largest flare thus far was an M3.7 which took place at 20:12 UTC Monday.

Solar Update - As reported above, several M-Class flares (7) took place during the day on Monday. Sunspot 1165 which is located in the southern hemisphere is in the process of rotating onto the western limb and will soon be out of direct earth view. Sunspot 1164 which is in the northern hemisphere will also rotate onto the western limb soon after 1165. The chances for strong solar flares will decrease somewhat once these regions are out of view, however there will remain the possibility for further flares around Sunspot 1166. Just to the east of 1166, Sunspot 1169 did show some minor growth during the day on Monday.

Solar Flux Update: Not to sound like a broken record, but the Solar Flux reading on Monday is 153 (No pun intended). This is yet again another high for Cycle 24. The last time the solar flux was as this level, was July of 2004. Please note that this flux reading is an estimate due to the Flare activity in progress The high-sensitivity channels on the measurement device were completely overloaded by the long duration flare and produced a SFI reading of 938.6 at 20:00z.