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8 August 2001
20010807 Week Rotation Today Rotation Week 20010809

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
09557 S20W91
(894",-321")
βδ/βγ Dki/Dki 0600/0550 12/16 -
09561 S11W62
(827",-236")
αδ/αγ Hsx/Hsx 0030/0020 01/01 -
09562 N05W53
(759",10")
βδ/βγ Bxo/Cso 0020/0020 05/05 -
09563 N24W48
(648",311")
βγ/βγ Eki/Eki 0470/0390 24/23 -
09566 N17W32
(484",179")
βγ/βγ Dao/Dao 0150/0150 12/16 -
09567 S14W75
(893",-258")
βγ/βγ Bxo/Dso 0040/0060 06/09 -
09569 S18W29
(440",-393")
βγ/βγ Dao/Dao 0170/0050 12/09 -
09570 S11E31
(-483",-282")
βγ/αγ Cao/Hsx 0190/0140 03/01 -
09571 N06E52
(-748",25")
αγ/αγ Hsx/Hax 0060/0060 01/01 -
09572 N16E09
(-143",147")
αγ/αγ Hsx/Hsx 0020/0020 01/01 -
09573 S08E56
(-783",-198")
αγ/- Hax/--- 0050/---- 02/-- -

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 08-Aug-2001 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 08-Aug-2001 23:30 .