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| Alan Dyer / SpaceWeather |
In all the past 10 years since I started checking Solar activity on a daily basis, I don't remember coming across a year with so many days of high readings as 2024 in terms of Solar flares and geomagnetic storms. I needed confirmation....thankfully SpaceWeatherLive keeps archives!
Going through them for the past 20 years, I can confirm that 2024 does indeed hold the record for highest number of X-class flares, even though we're not yet done for the year. That being said, the interesting detail is that in 2003, there was a giganormous flare that measured a whopping X40+ with four at X20+ and seven at X10+, as shown below:
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| SpaceWeatherLive |
2001 had two X20+ flares:
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| SpaceWeatherLive |
And here's where you can view the very long and updated list for 2024, which includes several M9+ flares. There have been more X-class flares since the previous chart I posted in May 2024.
Now let's check the geomagnetic activity archives. Unsurprisingly, 2003 and 2001 had several Solar storms, of which some were very severe:
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| SpaceWeatherLive |
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| SpaceWeatherLive |
And here's the list for 2024 todate:
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| SpaceWeatherLive |
Solar Cycle 25 is expected to reach Solar Maximum between late 2024 and early 2026 ~ predictions vary from source to source. Analysts had also predicted earlier that Solar Cycle 25 would be a weak one but later forecasts are now saying it had "ramped up" (from Space Weather Prediction Center):
In case you missed it, Solar Cycle 25 has ramped up much faster than scientists predicted producing
more sunspots and eruptions than experts had forecast. Tracking and
predicting the Sun’s solar cycles gives a rough idea of the frequency of
space weather storms of all types – from radio blackouts to geomagnetic
storms and solar radiation storms – and it’s used by many industries to
gauge the potential impact of space weather on Earth. Though we are
seeing increased activity on the Sun, we expect this solar cycle to be
average compared to solar cycles in the past century.
Please note that this report covers Solar events up until 2023 only. 2024 has certainly "ramped up" even more.
Solar Cycle Progression has surpassed projections:
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| Space Weather Prediction Center |
Namarie! 💗
