NEWS FROM THE SPACE WEATHER PREDICTION CENTER(SWPC)
January 28, 2011
NEWS FROM THE SPACE WEATHER PREDICTION CENTER(SWPC)
=========================================================================
Jan 28, 2011 -- Edited Events lists from Jan 24 through 28 had bad
Radio and Flare date/times. The files have been corrected.
=========================================================================
GOES 15 to replace GOES 11 as Secondary SWPC
GOES Satellite for Protons, Electrons, and Magnetometer
in late February
January 10, 2011 -- GOES 15 will replace GOES 11 as the Secondary SWPC
GOES Satellite for Protons, Electrons, and Magnetometer in late February.
Details and list of effected products: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/Data/goes.html
SWPC provides GOES data as plots and ascii files. The switch will effect
plot legends and ascii file header lines, no filename changes are needed.
=========================================================================
GOES 15 Designated Primary X-ray Satellite
October 28, 2010 -- GOES 15 replaced GOES 14 as the Primary SWPC GOES
X-ray Satellite. GOES 14 is being moved into storage. There is no
Secondary SWPC GOES X-ray satellite.
X-ray ascii data files use the file naming convention 'Gp' for GOES
Primary, this means only header lines changes.
=========================================================================
At 0000UT OCTOBER 28
GOES 15 Will Replace GOES 14 as Primary Satellite for XRS data
October 13, 2010: At 0000 UT October 28 GOES 15 will replace GOES 14
as the Primary SWPC GOES X-ray Satellite. GOES 14 is being moved into
storage. There is no Secondary SWPC GOES X-ray satellite.
X-ray ascii data files use the file naming convention 'Gp' for GOES
Primary, this means only header lines changes.
==========================================================================
Discontinuation of Thule Neutron Monitor Data
June 1, 2010 SWPC discontinued Thule Neutron Monitor data. The following
products were removed or changed.
Thule Neutron Monitor 1- and -5 minute data lists stopped on 01 June and
and older files will be removed 01 July 2010.
/ftp/pub/lists/neutron or http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpmenu/lists/neutron.html
The Daily Thule Neutron Monitor Percent of Background field was set to
the appropriate missing data value in these products.
Daily Solar Indices
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/alerts/solar_indices.html
Daily Space Weather Indices
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpmenu/indices/dayind.html
Current Space Weather Indices
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/latest/curind.txt
Daily Particle Data
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/indices/DPD.txt
Daily GEOALERT -- The ground-level cosmic ray intensity and events group
in the UGORI coded message is 4////
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpmenu/forecasts/GEOA.html
For more details, alternative sources, and SWPC contact information.
See http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/Thule.html
==========================================================================
GOES 13 Designated Primary Satellite for
Proton, Electron and Magnetometer Data
April 14, 2010 -- GOES 13 became the Primary SWPC GOES Satellite for the
Proton, Electron and Magnetometer instruments and GOES 11 was designated
the Secondary Satellite. GOES 12 is being decommissioned.
GOES 13 is drifting to the GOES West longitude. It will be at West 75 by
April 26, 2010.
GOES 13 HEPAD data channels P8 - P11 are temporarily unavailable until
calibration issues are resolved.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpmenu/lists/pchan.html
Revised Geometrical Factors for GOES 13, 14 and 15 EPEAD Electron Channels
See the SWPC GOES Satellites web page for details and a list of changed
products. http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/Data/goes.html
Send comments and questions to SWPC.CustomerSupport@noaa.gov
==========================================================================
On April 14, 2010
GOES 13 will be designated Primary Satellite for
Proton, Electron and Magnetometer Data
April 5, 2010: On Wednesday, 14 April, the GOES 12 satellite will
be decommissioned. At that time, GOES 13 will become the Primary
SWPC GOES Satellite for the Proton, Electron, and Magnetometer
instruments. GOES 11 will become the Secondary Satellite.
============== Product Changes =======================
Data plots: Satellite Environment, Electron Flux, Proton Flux, and
Magnetometer in /ftp/pub/rt_plots.
See http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/today.html and /rt_plots/
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpmenu/plots.html
Data Lists: GOES Proton and Electron, Proton Channel, and Magnetometer
in /ftp/pub/lists.
See http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpmenu/lists.html
GOES 13 data will appear in Daily Particle Data, Current Space Weather
values, and Yesterday's Space Weather Values.
See http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpmenu/latest.html
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpmenu/indices.html
=============================================================================
Solar Radio Flux Data
Air Force 245, 410, and 610 MHz Data Resumes
April 4, 2010-- The 28ft radio antennas at all four Air Force RSTN sites:
Learmonth, Sagamore Hill, Palehua, and San Vito are operational.
IFLUX and BURST data at 245, 410 and 610MHz have resumed beginning with
Palehua on March 18th.
=============================================================================
Solar Radio Flux Data
Air Force 245, 410, and 610 MHz Data Resumes
March 31, 2010-- The 28ft radio antennas at Air Force RSTN sites at
Learmonth, Sagamore Hill and Palehua are operational. IFLUX and BURST
data at 245, 410 and 610MHz have resumed beginning with Palehua on
March 18th.
Repairs at the San Vito Italy RSTN site are expected to be completed
by April 15.
=============================================================================
Solar Radio Flux Data
Air Force 245, 410, and 610 MHz Data Resumes
March 25, 2010-- Repairs to the 28ft antennas at all Air Force RSTN
sites (Learmonth, San Vito, Sagamore Hill and Palehua) should be
completed March 31. IFLUX and BURST data at 245, 410 and 610MHz resumed
from most sites this week, beginning with Palehua on March 18th.
SWPC did not receive 245, 410, and 610 MHz IFLUX or BURST data from
any RSTN site from March 5-17, 2010.
SWPC Products affected:
o Solar Radio Flux Data Lists and Radio Burst Event Lists /radio
o Current Space Weather Indices, and Daily Space Weather Indices
/latest/curind.txt and dayind.txt and /indices/dayind/
o Solar Indices Log http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/alerts/solar_indices.html
=============================================================================
Solar Radio Flux Data
No Air Force 245, 410, and 610 MHz Data Until Further Notice
March 5, 2010 -- The Air Force RSTN sites (Learmonth, San Vito, Sagamore Hill
and Palehua) have taken their 28ft antennas out of service due to safety
concerns with the gearing mechanism that positions the antenna. Affected
frequencies are 245, 410 and 610 MHz. As a result, SWPC will not be receiving
IFLUX or BURST data from these three frequencies until further notice.
The estimate to repair the Learmonth site is at least 15 weeks. The other
sites may resume soon if they are not affected by the problem.
SWPC Products affected:
o Solar Radio Flux Data Lists and Radio Burst Event Lists /radio
o Current Space Weather Indices, and Daily Space Weather Indices
/latest/curind.txt and dayind.txt and /indices/dayind/
o Solar Indices Log http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/alerts/solar_indices.html
=============================================================================
==========================================================================
GOES 14 Primary Satellite for XRS data
No Secondary Satellite for X-rays or Electrons and Protons
December 2, 2009: On 01 December, the GOES 10 satellite was decommissioned.
GOES 14 became the SWPC Primary GOES X-ray Satellite. There is no Secondary
GOES for X-rays, Electrons or Protons.
The GOES 10 and GOES 14 XRS instruments have very different electronics and
therefore, there are some qualitative changes in the appearance of the
data. The main difference will be the level of noise in the data at the
lowest values. When the background levels are low (less than 2E-8 W/m2 or
A2.0), the GOES 10 data looked flat and the steps were very abrupt. At these
low flux levels, the GOES 14 data is quite noisy. As the x-ray flux
levels rise up above 2E-8, the noise will decrease and the plots will look
very similar to GOES 10.
==========================================================================
ACE Real-time Solar Wind Data Resumes Nov 25, 1910UT
Nov 25, 2009 -- The ACE Real-time Solar Wind data was unexpectedly
interrupted from 1837UT Nov 24,2009 until 1900UT Nov 25.
==========================================================================
GOES 10 Decommissioning Dec 1, 2009
GOES 14 Becomes Primary Satellite for XRS data
No Secondary Satellite for X-rays or Electrons and Protons
November 17, 2009: On Tuesday, 01 December, the GOES 10 satellite will
be officially decommissioned. At that time, GOES 14 will replace GOES 10
as the Primary SWPC GOES X-ray Satellite. Since the XRS data ceased from
GOES 11 and GOES 12, there has been no Secondary SWPC GOES X-ray Satellite.
With the decommissioning of GOES 10, there will also be no Secondary
Satellite for Electrons and Protons. There should be only minor differences
in the appearance of the XRS data and only at the lowest flux levels.
Changes to the GOES XRS Data
The GOES 10 and GOES 14 XRS instruments have very different electronics and
therefore, there will be some qualitative changes in the appearance of the
data. The main difference will be the level of noise in the data at the
lowest values. When the background levels are low (less than 2E-8 W/m2 or
A2.0), the GOES 10 data looks flat and the steps are very abrupt. At these
low flux levels, the GOES 14 data will be quite noisy. As the x-ray flux
levels rise up above 2E-8, the noise will decrease and the plots will look
very similar to the GOES 10 data.
==========================================================================
Temporary STEREO PLASTIC Data Lists Outage
September 22, 2009: STEREO "Plastic" data processing was temporarily
stopped at SWPC on Sept 19, 1530UT. The STEREO Plastic lists are expected
to resume in the next week. NOTE: Other STEREO lists are unaffected.
==========================================================================
SWPC Network Outage
On July 16, 2009, SWPC systems were down for approximately 3 hours for a
network system upgrade.
===========================================================================
GOES spacecraft was occulted by the Moon on June 23, 2009
GOES 10, June 23 from 0136 to 0205 UT -- GOES 10 has the only X-ray detector
GOES 11, June 23 from 0509 to 0529 UT
GOES 12, June 23 from 0215 to 0247 UT
===========================================================================
Boulder-NOAA Magnetometer Data List was discontinued April 15, 2009
February 17, 2009 -- On April 15 the USGS, an acknowledged center of
expertise for geomagnetism, will assume full responsibility for the Boulder
magnetometer and its data. SWPC will continue to be a user of that data,
but will no longer be the point of distribution of raw magnetometer
data. Boulder Magnetometer DATA LISTS will no longer be available via SWPC.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpmenu/lists/boumag.html
Or within the FTP site cd /pub/lists/boumag/
However, the SWPC Boulder magnetometer web page will continue unchanged.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/bou_12h.html
Carol Finn, USGS Geomagnetism Group Leader, (cafinn@usgs.gov) is the
point of contact for interested parties. Please direct any comments or
questions to her.
===========================================================================
GOES 11 Becomes Primary Electron Satellite, GOES 10 Secondary
December 1, 2008 -- On Friday, 28 November, the GOES 12 Electron sensor
began experiencing periods of noisy data. On December 1 SWPC changed the
GOES Electron satellite designation to make GOES 11 the primary GOES
Electron satellite and GOES 10 the secondary.
Products that changed from GOES 12 Electrons to GOES 11
o 3-day GOES Electron Flux Plots /plots/electron
o Current Space Weather Indices /latest/curind.txt
o Daily Space Weather Indices /indices/dayind
o Daily Particle Data /indices/
Please send problem reports to SWPC.CustomerSupport@noaa.gov
Latest Announcements -- see older notices below.
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
This file contains news about SWPC data, products and services:
o Expected, current and recent data outages
o Know changes in data reliability, accuracy, format, etc.
o Planned and recent product and service changes
o Announcements of new space weather products, data lists, and displays
Please check here occasionally. The latest notice appears at the top and
older notices are at the bottom of this file. All notices since 2001 are
on-line at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/Data/notices.html
SWPC Anonymous FTP products are accessible via Anonymous FTP and the Web
ftp.swpc.noaa.gov cd to /pub
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpmenu/index.html
***************************************************************
** Please read the SWPC Disclaimer at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
** before using the forecasts and data in these reports.
***************************************************************
SWPC provides near-real-time and recent data, solar and geomagnetic
indices and solar event reports created from preliminary reports.
Preliminary data may contain errors or be revised after further
review. The historical products in this SWPC Warehouse are the
preliminary reports as originally published. SWPC does not encourage
the use of preliminary data for research purposes.
Links to archive sites with final data: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/Data/
***************************************************************
Comments and questions welcome: SWPC.Webmaster@noaa.gov
Report problems to: SWPC.CustomerSupport@noaa.gov
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
OLDER NOTICES
2008
SWPC SYSTEM FAILURES
August 13, 2008 -- 2100UT Update -- Aug 13 -- SWPC experienced major hardware
failures on Aug 5 and 8. Products have been restored but occasional short
disruptions are possible this week.
August 8, 2008 -- 1600UT Update -- A primary SWPC data ingest system failed
August 7, at 2200UT. The following data streams are not available: Planetary
Geomagnetic indices; POES satellite; USTEC GPS stations. Efforts to resolve
the problem continues, but may take several days. All Web and FTP products
that can be generated without the missing data are being updated routinely.
August 7, 2008 -- 2300UT Update -- On August 5, at 15:15 UT the SWPC web and
anonymous FTP sites experienced major equipment failures. At this time most
web and ftp products are updating routinely. The last products are expected
to return on August 8.
August 6, 2008 -- 0100UT Update-- On August 5, at 15:15 UT the SWPC web and
anonymous FTP sites experienced major equipment failures. Some new web and
ftp content is being updated but other portions are not. Efforts to resolve
the problems continue, but may take several days.
March 11, 2008 -- Beginning March 12, GOES 11 Proton, Electron and
Magnetometer instruments will be turned off during eclipse periods. On
March 12 eclipse times are at maximum (0839 to 0944 UT).
GOES 11 eclipse season ends April 10.
Feb 21, 2008 -- GOES 10 X-ray outages due to spacecraft eclipse season
started Feb 20 and will end April 5. Maximum eclipse duration will reach
about 65 minutes peaking in the middle of the interval (March 11).
Currently, X-ray sensors (XRS) are not operational on other GOES satellites
to fill in for the GOES-10 eclipses.
February 10, 2008 -- GOES-10 satellite tracking at SWPC resumed.
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
2007
Five Ionosonde Stations Added In January
December 28, 2007 -- Five additional Ionosonde Stations are being added in
the Daily Ionospheric Data Lists directory in early January.
ftp.swpc.noaa.gov cd to /lists/iono_day/
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpmenu/lists/iono_day.html
===========================================================================
December 18, 2007 -- GOES-10, the SWPC secondary GOES Satellite for X-ray
and Proton data, is again not being tracked at SWPC due to an antenna problem.
December 5-17, 2007 -- GOES 10 tracking was restarted during GOES 12 outage.
November 21 - Dec 5, 2007 -- GOES-10, the SWPC secondary GOES Satellite
for X-ray and Proton data, was not tracked at SWPC due to an antenna problem.
===========================================================================
GOES-11 Electron Fluence Data
Dec 5-17, 2007
Dec 18, 2007 -- GOES 12 Electron Fluence data was unavailable from Dec 5 - 17.
During this time the Daily Particle Data files have missing, or partial, data
for the GOES-12 Electron Fluence values. Below are the GOES-11 Electron Fluence
values for the missed dates.
When the 2007 Daily Particle Data file is created in early 2008 the missed data
with be replaced with GOES-11 values so the archived list is complete.
# GOES-11 Proton Fluence GOES-11 Electron Fluence Neutron
# --- Protons/cm2-day-sr --- -- Electrons/cm2-day-sr -- Monitor
# Date >1 MeV >10 MeV >100 MeV >0.6 MeV >2 MeV % of bkgd
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2007 12 05 1.0e+06 1.9e+04 4.4e+03 1.0e+10 3.5e+07 100.39
2007 12 06 1.1e+06 1.9e+04 4.4e+03 6.9e+09 2.1e+07 100.15
2007 12 07 9.2e+05 1.8e+04 4.7e+03 6.4e+09 2.3e+07 100.15
2007 12 08 1.3e+06 1.9e+04 4.6e+03 6.3e+09 2.7e+07 99.90
2007 12 09 8.8e+05 1.9e+04 4.6e+03 4.6e+09 2.1e+07 99.90
2007 12 10 1.4e+06 1.9e+04 4.2e+03 1.5e+09 4.2e+06 99.80
2007 12 11 2.1e+06 1.8e+04 3.9e+03 9.0e+09 4.3e+06 99.50
2007 12 12 1.1e+06 1.8e+04 3.8e+03 2.8e+10 2.8e+07 99.60
2007 12 13 5.9e+05 1.7e+04 3.8e+03 4.3e+10 6.6e+07 99.60
2007 12 14 9.0e+05 1.7e+04 3.8e+03 4.2e+10 7.9e+07 99.90
2007 12 15 9.8e+05 1.7e+04 3.9e+03 3.5e+10 6.6e+07 100.26
2007 12 16 1.1e+06 1.8e+04 4.1e+03 2.9e+10 5.5e+07 99.90
2007 12 17 2.1e+06 1.7e+04 3.9e+03 1.1e+10 1.0e+07 99.70
===========================================================================
GOES 12 Outage Dec 5-17, 2007
December 17, 2007 -- GOES 12 was unavailable from December 5, 1010UT until
2040UT December 17, 2007.
===========================================================================
Space Environment Center (SEC)
Changes Name to
Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC)
On October 1, 2007 the NOAA Space Environment Center changed its name to
the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). The center is one of the nine
National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) within NOAA's National
Weather Service. The new name aligns the space weather center with the
other NCEP centers and more clearly conveys its operational nature.
SWPC.noaa.gov is the new domain for web access (www.swpc.noaa.gov) and
Anonymous FTP. The old domain, sec.noaa.gov, will continue to work for the
foreseeable future. The simple web URL spaceweather.gov is also available.
The new name began appearing in web pages and product headers October 1.
Web pages use NOAA web formatting standards and some have an updated look
and feel, but the data displays and content did not change. Text and
graphical products headers use Space Weather Prediction Center (or SWPC),
but there were no changes to the file formats or content.
=========================================================================
USAF Products Delayed
Aug 28, 2007 -- 1945UT Routine USAF product transfers to SEC are disrupted
and a temporary work-around has been implemented. Estimated Planetary
A and K indices, and Daily Solar Radio Noon Flux values, from Aug 28
0000UT through 1400UT are still unavailable.
USAF products are now being received, but may be delayed.
Currently there is no estimate when the primary failure will be repaired.
=======================================================================
=======================================================================
=======================================================================
=======================================================================
2006
GEOMAGNETIC STORM IN PROGRESS 2006 December 14 1704 UTC
A geomagnetic storm began on December 14 at 1416 UTC (9:16 A.M. EST). A
solar flare on 13 December at 0240 UTC (12 December, 9:40 P.M. EST)
from NOAA Region 930 produced strong radio blackouts (R3) and an
associated moderate (S2) solar radiation storm. A large Earth-directed
coronal mass ejection was also observed with this event, producing
today's geomagnetic storming. Strong to severe (G3 & G4) geomagnetic
storming is expected to last through 15 December.
Region 930 is a large sunspot group which is still rotating across the
visible disk. Because of the current position of Region 930,
additional activity has greater potential to quickly impact Earth.
Agencies impacted by space weather storms should continue to closely
monitor space weather conditions during the next four days.
=======================================================================
ACE SOLAR WIND DATA CONTAMINATED
December 13, 2006
Recent solar energetic proton events contaminated the ACE SWEPAM
instrument data resulting in incorrect solar wind density, speed, and
temperature values being reported by SEC. The latest contamination started
at about 0340 UTC on 13 December and ended at about 2000 UTC 13 December
as energetic proton fluxes subsided.
ACE RTSW MAG, EPAM, and SIS data were unaffected.
==================================================================
SEC Anonymous FTP Service Hosted by NWS
November 2, 2006 -- Beginning today, the National Weather Service (NWS)
is hosting the SEC Anonymous FTP service ftp.swpc.noaa.gov.
The NWS provides a dedicated, high-availability environment which
increases reliability and capacity. No product changes where made.
Connections to SEC using IP addresses no longer work. Please use the
domain name: ftp.swpc.noaa.gov
ftp2.sec.noaa.gov, the SEC backup Anonymous FTP server, is not needed
in the new environment and has been discontinued.
==================================================================
HTTP Alternative to Anonymous FTP
SEC Anonymous FTP content is accessible through the http URL
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/
There are a number of software packages that support automatic
connections and retrieval such as GNU Wget
GNU Wget, http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/ is a free software
package for retrieving files using HTTP, HTTPS and FTP. Its a
non-interactive command line tool, so it may be called from
scripts, cron jobs, terminals without X-Windows support, etc.
GNU Wget has many features to make retrieving files from web or
FTP sites easy. For more details and an SEC example see:
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/Data/about_data.html#wget
========================================================================
Special Web and FTP access ends September 18, 2006
http://solar.sec.noaa.gov http://dawn.sec.noaa.gov
ftp solar.sec.noaa.gov ftp dawn.sec.noaa.gov
August 17, 2006 -- Access to SEC web and ftp servers through the above
special addresses ended September 18, 2006. Customers are advised
to switch to the official addresses:
========================================================================
SEC Secondary GOES Spacecraft Change
At 1400UT, June 22, 2006 the SEC secondary GOES satellite
for magnetometer, X-ray, and electron measurements changed from
GOES 10 to GOES 11. GOES 12 remains the primary SEC GOES
satellite. For energetic proton measurements there was no change;
GOES 11 remains the primary SEC GOES satellite and GOES 10 the
secondary. SEC products that include magnetometer, X-ray, and
electron measurements from the secondary SEC GOES satellite
changed at that time.
========================================================================
GOES 10 Energetic Proton Outages Expected
June 26, 2006 -- GOES 10, SEC's secondary GOES satellite for energetic
protons, will not be available at SEC for about two weeks beginning
on June 23, because its telemetry frequency will be changed to avoid
conflicting with GOES 11 transmissions. There will be two additional
periods (approximately 10 - 14 days) when GOES 10 data will not be
available, as GOES 10 drifts past GOES 13 and GOES 12.
GOES 11, the primary SEC GOES satellite for Energetic Protons will be
available throughout the GOES 10 outages.
==================================================================
June 15, 2006
Using GNU Wget to Retrieve SEC Web and FTP Files
GNU Wget, http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/ is a free software
package for retrieving files using HTTP, HTTPS and FTP. Its a
non-interactive command line tool, so it may be called from
scripts, cron jobs, terminals without X-Windows support, etc.
GNU Wget has many features to make retrieving files from web or
FTP sites easy. For more details and an SWPC example see:
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/Data/about_data.html#wget
==================================================================
