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9 February 2002
20020208 Week Rotation Today Rotation Week 20020210

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
09802 S15W91
(919",-242")
βγδ/βγδ Dao/Dso 0050/0110 03/08 -
09806 N14W91
(924",230")
αγδ/αγδ Hsx/Hsx 0030/0030 02/01 -
09807 S27W48
(632",-501")
βγδ/βγδ Cso/Cso 0010/0020 07/08 -
09808 N18W68
(841",249")
βγδ/βγδ Cso/Dso 0030/0070 05/08 -
09809 S04W52
(750",-140")
βγδ/βγδ Dso/Dso 0060/0080 05/07 -
09810 N11W28
(440",76")
βγδ/αγδ Dao/Hax 0130/0170 10/03 -
09811 S26W08
(119",-523")
βγδ/βγδ Dao/Dao 0140/0140 12/11 -
09814 N08W65
(856",81")
βγδ/βγδ Cso/Cso 0020/0020 03/03 -
09815 N11W12
(195",65")
βγδ/βγδ Dao/Cao 0060/0080 13/10 -
09816 S13W91
(927",-210")
βγδ/βγδ Cso/Cso 0030/0030 03/04 -
09818 N06W13
(214",-17")
α/- Hsx/--- 0020/---- 02/-- -
09819 S30E19
(-269",-572")
βγδ/βγδ Cro/Cso 0020/0030 04/05 -
09820 N15E16
(-254",133")
αγδ/βγδ Hsx/Cso 0020/0020 02/03 -
09821 S14E02
(-32",-346")
βγδ/βγδ Dso/Dso 0030/0030 11/11 -
09822 N18E55
(-743",227")
βγδ/βγδ Dao/Dao 0150/0150 09/09 -
09823 S05E10
(-165",-201")
β/- Cso/--- 0020/---- 04/-- -
09824 N21E53
(-712",271")
α/- Hsx/--- 0100/---- 01/-- -
09825 N12E55
(-765",129")
β/- Eko/--- 0320/---- 06/-- -

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

Events not associated with currently named NOAA regions: None

Note: The tabulated data are based on the most recent NOAA/USAF Active Region Summary issued on 09-Feb-2002 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 09-Feb-2002 23:30 .