Hawks Nest Radio Astronomy Observatory
=================================
Definitions and description of NOAA solar events
Files for the current full year, and earlier years are online from 1996.
See the SWPC FTP server: ftp://ftp.swpc.noaa.gov/pub/indices/events/
A sample list and descriptions of each field are included below. The format is fixed, 80 columns wide, with standard headers. If no events are reported a single line is shown. NO EVENT REPORTS.
========================================================================
Partial sample report from 2005 showing high solar activity.
Note our name changed from Space Environment Center to Space Weather Prediction Center in October 2007.
*************************************************************************************************************
:Product: 20050316events.txt
:Created: 2005 Mar 17 1802 UT
:Date: 2005 03 16
# Prepared by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center.
# Please send comments and suggestions to [email protected]
#
# Missing data: ////
# Updated every 30 minutes.
# Edited Events for 2005 Mar 16
#
#Event Begin Max End Obs Q Type Loc/Frq Particulars Reg#
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1590 0318 0318 0318 LEA G RBR 245 51
1620 + 0348 //// 1635 COM C RSP 30-80 CTM/1
1600 + 0408 0410 0412 LEA G RBR 245 210
1730 + 0422 1214 1511 COM G RNS 245 160
1610 0522 0528 0532 G10 5 XRA 1-8A B4.2 1.9E-04
1630 0741 0744 0748 G10 5 XRA 1-8A B1.9 7.3E-05
1630 0741 //// 0743 SVI C RSP 025-089 III/1
1640 1052 //// 1053 SVI U RSP 025-046 III/1
1650 1125 1125 1125 SVI G RBR 245 85
1650 1125 1125 1125 SVI G RBR 410 46
1660 1150 //// 1150 SVI C RSP 025-041 III/1
1670 + 1205 1208 1210 G12 5 XRA 1-8A B3.5 8.1E-05 0742
1670 1206 1206 1209 SAG G RBR 245 100 0742
1670 1207 1207 1207 SAG G RBR 410 56 0742
1670 1209 1210 1210 G12 5 XFL S02W48 3.0E+02 6.5E+02 0742
1670 1210 //// 2228 SAG C RSP 110-180 CTM/1 0742
1680 + 1217 1221 1223 G12 5 XRA 1-8A B5.1 1.4E-04 0742
1680 + 1219 1219 1219 SVI G RBR 410 310 0742
********************************************************************************
DESCRIPTION:
The first line is the filename.
The second line indicates the date/time the list was created.
The third line contains the date of the data. Each file (list) contains one UTC day.
Lines that begin with # are header lines.
Event - This is an arbitrary event number assigned by SWPC. It groups several reports into a single event, as determined by the SWPC forecaster.
+ - A plus sign (+) after the event number indicates that more than one report was received for this event, and the forecaster has selected this report to represent those received.
Begin, Max, End -
The UTC Time (Coordinate Universal Time, same as UT) of the beginning,
maximum, and end of the event as reported by the observing site.
"////" indicates a missing time.
The UTC day of the event's begin time is the UTC day of the list.
The UTC day of the maximum and/or end times may or may not be the same
as the begin time. Most solar events are several hours in duration. If
the maximum or end time is less than the begin time, then assume the
times are for the next UTC day. A single letter can proceed a Begin, Max,
or End time. A=after, B=before, U=uncertain. For example the begin time
A0146 means the event began after 0146.
The begin time of an x-ray event is defined as the first minute, in a
sequence of 4 minutes, of steep monotonic increase in 0.1-0.8 nm flux.
The x-ray event maximum is taken as the minute of the peak x-ray flux.
The end time is the time when the flux level decays to a point halfway
between the maximum flux and the pre-flare background level.
The begin time of an SXI flare (XFL) is minutes following the associated
x-ray event. The maximum time is the most intense period in the brightest
region of the SXI image. The end time is the last SXI image before the X-ray
event end time.
Obs - The reporting observatory.
CUL - Culgoora, Australia
HOL - Holloman AFB, NM, USA
LEA - Learmonth, Australia
PAL - Palahua, HI, USA
RAM - Ramey AFB, PR, USA
SAG - Sagamore Hill, MA, USA
SVI - San Vito, Italy
Events from GOES satellites data show the SWPC Primary or Secondary
GOES spacecraft for the observatory, e.g. G12
(See the "Station Lists" directory in the "Welcome" directory for more information.)
Q - Quality
For radio bursts at fixed and sweep frequencies, and for storms, this
shows the quality of the data
C = Corrected report
G = Good
U = Uncertain
For optical flares, this shows the quality of observing conditions,
from 1 to 5, where: 1 = very poor and 5 = excellent
X-ray events and SXI flare have a quality of 5 (meaning excellent).
Type - Type of report
BSL = Bright surge on the limb
DSF = Filament disappearance
EPL = Eruptive prominence on the limb
FIL = Filament
FLA = Optical flare observed in H-alpha
FOR = Forbush decrease (cosmic ray decrease))
GLE = Ground-level event (cosmic ray increase)
LPS = Loop prominence system
PCA = Polar cap absorption
RBR = Fixed-frequency radio burst
RNS = Radio Noise Storm
RSP = Sweep-frequency radio burst
SPY = Spray
XFL = SXI X-ray flare from GOES Solar X-ray Imager (SXI)
XRA = X-ray event from SWPC's Primary or Secondary GOES spacecraft
Loc/Frq - Location or frequency.
Location is in degrees latitude, north or south, and degrees longitude,
east or west, from central meridian. The location is the spherical,
heliographic coordinates of the solar region, as a distance in degrees
from a line extending from the solar equator (heliographic latitude),
and distance in degrees from a line extending from the north solar
rotational pole to the south solar rotational pole through the center
of the solar disk, as viewed from Earth (central meridian) in H-alpha.
Frequencies are in MHz.
Particulars - Additional information from the report, chosen on the basis of the report type.
XRA: X-ray Class
Class x = peak flux in the 0.1 to 0.8 nm range
In mks system In cgs system
Wm-2 erg cm-2 s-1
A x < 10-7 x < 10-4
B 10-7 <= x < 10-6 10-4 <= x < 10-3
C 10-6 <= x < 10-5 10-3 <= x < 10-2
M 10-5 <= x < 10-4 10-2 <= x < 10-1
X 10-4 <= x 10-1 <= x
Integrated flux from start to end, in joules m E-2.
FLA: Importance and brightness
Importance is the corrected area of the flare in heliospheric square degrees at maximum brightness, observed
in the H-alpha
line (656.3 nm).
S - Subflare (area < or =2.0 square degrees).
1 - Importance 1 ( 2.1 <= area <= 5.1 square degrees)
2 - Importance 2 ( 5.2 <= area <= 12.4 square degrees)
3 - Importance 3 (12.5 <= area <= 24.7 square degrees)
4 - Importance 4 ( area >= 24.8 square degrees)
Brightness is the relative maximum brightness of flare in H-alpha.
F - faint N - normal B - brilliant
Flare Characteristics
VWL = Visible in white light
UMB = Greater than or equal to 20 percent umbral coverage
PRB = Parallel ribbon
LPS = Associated Loop Prominence (LPS)
YSR = Y-shaped ribbon
ERU = Several eruptive centers
BPT = One or more brilliant points
HSS = Associated high speed dark or bright surge
DSD = Dark surge on the disk
DSF = Flare followed the disappearance of a solar filament in the
same region
BLU = H-alpha emission greater in the blue wing than in the red wing
XFL: maximum area (e.g., 1.6e+03) and max intensity (e.g., 1.5e+05).
RBR:
The peak value above pre-burst background of associated radio bursts at frequencies 245, 410, 610, 1415,
2695, 4995, 8800 and 15400 MHz:
1 flux unit = 10-22 Wm-2 Hz-1
RSP:
Type/Intensity
Type II: Slow drift burst
Type III: Fast drift burst
Type IV: Broadband smooth continuum burst
Type V: Brief continuum burst, generally associated with Type III bursts
Type VI: Series of Type III bursts over a period of 10 minutes or more,
with no period longer than 30 minutes without activity
Type VII: Series of Type III and Type V bursts over a period of 10 minutes
or more, with no period longer than 30 minutes without activity
Type CTM: Broadband, long-lived, dekametric continuum
Intensity is a relative scale 1=Minor, 2=Significant, 3=Major
Shock speed in km/s
Reg# - The SWPC-assigned solar region number. The daily SWPC Solar Region
For optical events, region numbers are assigned by the observatory.
Region numbers are assigned to X-ray events by SWPC staff.
For SXI flares, an SWPC algorithm finds the brightest area in the SXI image and assigns the region number
of the closest active solar region.
A region number is assigned to off-disk, west limb events if the region recently rotated around the limb.
==========================================================================
USER NOTICES
==========================================================================
GOES 14 Became Primary Satellite for XRS data
December 1, 2009: GOES 14 is the Primary SWPC GOES Satellite for X-ray Events.
There is no Secondary X-ray Satellite at this time.
===========================================================================
January 5, 2004 -- GOES Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) flare (XFL) reports were
added to the Edited Solar Events Lists. SXI flares from GOES-12 provide
valuable flare location and other information, especially when no optical
observations are available. SEC developed the SXI flare algorithm, triggered
by GOES X-ray events, which finds the brightest area in the latest SXI image
and assigns the region number of the closest active solar region. A region
number is assigned to off-disk, west limb events if the region recently
rotated around the limb. Near-real-time SXI images and a description of the
GOES SXI instrument are at http://swpc.noaa.gov/sxi/
========================================================================
GOES Satellite Changes
On May 15, 2003 GOES-12 became SEC's primary GOES satellite, and GOES 10
the backup. Event Lists show GOES 12 and GOES 10 XRA events.
=================================
Definitions and description of NOAA solar events
Files for the current full year, and earlier years are online from 1996.
See the SWPC FTP server: ftp://ftp.swpc.noaa.gov/pub/indices/events/
A sample list and descriptions of each field are included below. The format is fixed, 80 columns wide, with standard headers. If no events are reported a single line is shown. NO EVENT REPORTS.
========================================================================
Partial sample report from 2005 showing high solar activity.
Note our name changed from Space Environment Center to Space Weather Prediction Center in October 2007.
*************************************************************************************************************
:Product: 20050316events.txt
:Created: 2005 Mar 17 1802 UT
:Date: 2005 03 16
# Prepared by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center.
# Please send comments and suggestions to [email protected]
#
# Missing data: ////
# Updated every 30 minutes.
# Edited Events for 2005 Mar 16
#
#Event Begin Max End Obs Q Type Loc/Frq Particulars Reg#
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1590 0318 0318 0318 LEA G RBR 245 51
1620 + 0348 //// 1635 COM C RSP 30-80 CTM/1
1600 + 0408 0410 0412 LEA G RBR 245 210
1730 + 0422 1214 1511 COM G RNS 245 160
1610 0522 0528 0532 G10 5 XRA 1-8A B4.2 1.9E-04
1630 0741 0744 0748 G10 5 XRA 1-8A B1.9 7.3E-05
1630 0741 //// 0743 SVI C RSP 025-089 III/1
1640 1052 //// 1053 SVI U RSP 025-046 III/1
1650 1125 1125 1125 SVI G RBR 245 85
1650 1125 1125 1125 SVI G RBR 410 46
1660 1150 //// 1150 SVI C RSP 025-041 III/1
1670 + 1205 1208 1210 G12 5 XRA 1-8A B3.5 8.1E-05 0742
1670 1206 1206 1209 SAG G RBR 245 100 0742
1670 1207 1207 1207 SAG G RBR 410 56 0742
1670 1209 1210 1210 G12 5 XFL S02W48 3.0E+02 6.5E+02 0742
1670 1210 //// 2228 SAG C RSP 110-180 CTM/1 0742
1680 + 1217 1221 1223 G12 5 XRA 1-8A B5.1 1.4E-04 0742
1680 + 1219 1219 1219 SVI G RBR 410 310 0742
********************************************************************************
DESCRIPTION:
The first line is the filename.
The second line indicates the date/time the list was created.
The third line contains the date of the data. Each file (list) contains one UTC day.
Lines that begin with # are header lines.
Event - This is an arbitrary event number assigned by SWPC. It groups several reports into a single event, as determined by the SWPC forecaster.
+ - A plus sign (+) after the event number indicates that more than one report was received for this event, and the forecaster has selected this report to represent those received.
Begin, Max, End -
The UTC Time (Coordinate Universal Time, same as UT) of the beginning,
maximum, and end of the event as reported by the observing site.
"////" indicates a missing time.
The UTC day of the event's begin time is the UTC day of the list.
The UTC day of the maximum and/or end times may or may not be the same
as the begin time. Most solar events are several hours in duration. If
the maximum or end time is less than the begin time, then assume the
times are for the next UTC day. A single letter can proceed a Begin, Max,
or End time. A=after, B=before, U=uncertain. For example the begin time
A0146 means the event began after 0146.
The begin time of an x-ray event is defined as the first minute, in a
sequence of 4 minutes, of steep monotonic increase in 0.1-0.8 nm flux.
The x-ray event maximum is taken as the minute of the peak x-ray flux.
The end time is the time when the flux level decays to a point halfway
between the maximum flux and the pre-flare background level.
The begin time of an SXI flare (XFL) is minutes following the associated
x-ray event. The maximum time is the most intense period in the brightest
region of the SXI image. The end time is the last SXI image before the X-ray
event end time.
Obs - The reporting observatory.
CUL - Culgoora, Australia
HOL - Holloman AFB, NM, USA
LEA - Learmonth, Australia
PAL - Palahua, HI, USA
RAM - Ramey AFB, PR, USA
SAG - Sagamore Hill, MA, USA
SVI - San Vito, Italy
Events from GOES satellites data show the SWPC Primary or Secondary
GOES spacecraft for the observatory, e.g. G12
(See the "Station Lists" directory in the "Welcome" directory for more information.)
Q - Quality
For radio bursts at fixed and sweep frequencies, and for storms, this
shows the quality of the data
C = Corrected report
G = Good
U = Uncertain
For optical flares, this shows the quality of observing conditions,
from 1 to 5, where: 1 = very poor and 5 = excellent
X-ray events and SXI flare have a quality of 5 (meaning excellent).
Type - Type of report
BSL = Bright surge on the limb
DSF = Filament disappearance
EPL = Eruptive prominence on the limb
FIL = Filament
FLA = Optical flare observed in H-alpha
FOR = Forbush decrease (cosmic ray decrease))
GLE = Ground-level event (cosmic ray increase)
LPS = Loop prominence system
PCA = Polar cap absorption
RBR = Fixed-frequency radio burst
RNS = Radio Noise Storm
RSP = Sweep-frequency radio burst
SPY = Spray
XFL = SXI X-ray flare from GOES Solar X-ray Imager (SXI)
XRA = X-ray event from SWPC's Primary or Secondary GOES spacecraft
Loc/Frq - Location or frequency.
Location is in degrees latitude, north or south, and degrees longitude,
east or west, from central meridian. The location is the spherical,
heliographic coordinates of the solar region, as a distance in degrees
from a line extending from the solar equator (heliographic latitude),
and distance in degrees from a line extending from the north solar
rotational pole to the south solar rotational pole through the center
of the solar disk, as viewed from Earth (central meridian) in H-alpha.
Frequencies are in MHz.
Particulars - Additional information from the report, chosen on the basis of the report type.
XRA: X-ray Class
Class x = peak flux in the 0.1 to 0.8 nm range
In mks system In cgs system
Wm-2 erg cm-2 s-1
A x < 10-7 x < 10-4
B 10-7 <= x < 10-6 10-4 <= x < 10-3
C 10-6 <= x < 10-5 10-3 <= x < 10-2
M 10-5 <= x < 10-4 10-2 <= x < 10-1
X 10-4 <= x 10-1 <= x
Integrated flux from start to end, in joules m E-2.
FLA: Importance and brightness
Importance is the corrected area of the flare in heliospheric square degrees at maximum brightness, observed
in the H-alpha
line (656.3 nm).
S - Subflare (area < or =2.0 square degrees).
1 - Importance 1 ( 2.1 <= area <= 5.1 square degrees)
2 - Importance 2 ( 5.2 <= area <= 12.4 square degrees)
3 - Importance 3 (12.5 <= area <= 24.7 square degrees)
4 - Importance 4 ( area >= 24.8 square degrees)
Brightness is the relative maximum brightness of flare in H-alpha.
F - faint N - normal B - brilliant
Flare Characteristics
VWL = Visible in white light
UMB = Greater than or equal to 20 percent umbral coverage
PRB = Parallel ribbon
LPS = Associated Loop Prominence (LPS)
YSR = Y-shaped ribbon
ERU = Several eruptive centers
BPT = One or more brilliant points
HSS = Associated high speed dark or bright surge
DSD = Dark surge on the disk
DSF = Flare followed the disappearance of a solar filament in the
same region
BLU = H-alpha emission greater in the blue wing than in the red wing
XFL: maximum area (e.g., 1.6e+03) and max intensity (e.g., 1.5e+05).
RBR:
The peak value above pre-burst background of associated radio bursts at frequencies 245, 410, 610, 1415,
2695, 4995, 8800 and 15400 MHz:
1 flux unit = 10-22 Wm-2 Hz-1
RSP:
Type/Intensity
Type II: Slow drift burst
Type III: Fast drift burst
Type IV: Broadband smooth continuum burst
Type V: Brief continuum burst, generally associated with Type III bursts
Type VI: Series of Type III bursts over a period of 10 minutes or more,
with no period longer than 30 minutes without activity
Type VII: Series of Type III and Type V bursts over a period of 10 minutes
or more, with no period longer than 30 minutes without activity
Type CTM: Broadband, long-lived, dekametric continuum
Intensity is a relative scale 1=Minor, 2=Significant, 3=Major
Shock speed in km/s
Reg# - The SWPC-assigned solar region number. The daily SWPC Solar Region
For optical events, region numbers are assigned by the observatory.
Region numbers are assigned to X-ray events by SWPC staff.
For SXI flares, an SWPC algorithm finds the brightest area in the SXI image and assigns the region number
of the closest active solar region.
A region number is assigned to off-disk, west limb events if the region recently rotated around the limb.
==========================================================================
USER NOTICES
==========================================================================
GOES 14 Became Primary Satellite for XRS data
December 1, 2009: GOES 14 is the Primary SWPC GOES Satellite for X-ray Events.
There is no Secondary X-ray Satellite at this time.
===========================================================================
January 5, 2004 -- GOES Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) flare (XFL) reports were
added to the Edited Solar Events Lists. SXI flares from GOES-12 provide
valuable flare location and other information, especially when no optical
observations are available. SEC developed the SXI flare algorithm, triggered
by GOES X-ray events, which finds the brightest area in the latest SXI image
and assigns the region number of the closest active solar region. A region
number is assigned to off-disk, west limb events if the region recently
rotated around the limb. Near-real-time SXI images and a description of the
GOES SXI instrument are at http://swpc.noaa.gov/sxi/
========================================================================
GOES Satellite Changes
On May 15, 2003 GOES-12 became SEC's primary GOES satellite, and GOES 10
the backup. Event Lists show GOES 12 and GOES 10 XRA events.
