Paul L Herrman
    Sierra Vista, Arizona USA (DM41um)
    Using Solar Data/Images & Tutorials
    n0nbh@n0nbh.com

• Use the buttons at the top and bottom of the page to navigate, or use the following links:
• For Solar-Terrestrial Data banners and widgets (both web page and devices) click here
• For Online MOF/LOF HF Propagation Prediction Tool, NOAA's SWPC WSA-Enlil Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) Solar Wind Prediction Model, and conversion tools click here
• For current Space Weather and HF Propagation Conditions, and MUF Maps click here
• I created a printable pdf presentation that contains all the information on this entire webpage, including all the tutorials. You can download from this link
• I created a printable pdf presentation that contains detailed instructions on adding a banner to your www.qrz.com BIO page. You can download from this link

Understanding/Using the Data and Images from the Sun

• Most of us understand the impacts of Solar Flux/Sun Spots have on HF communications, but some are unsure about the remaining data provided in the panel.
• I have created an easy to understand abbreviated table below that provides HF Propagation conditions based on the current Solar-Terrestrial Data. Factors provided include background X-Ray, Proton Flux, and K index (including the nT measurement), Solar Flux Index (SFI), Sunspots (SN), Electron Flux, and Aurora (includes Normalization factor (n) less than 2.0 = high confidence, greater than 2.0 = low confidence).
• Because some items are better when high, and others low, I have color coded the blocks. Green is best contitions, yellow marginal, red unacceptable.
• A printable page (best using landscape) is also provided for ease of use in the shack. This single page easy to understand table is a must for any HAM operator (with a memory as bad as mine has gotten).
• Note that I will be adding how to use the 304A data to the page in the near future.
• I added Solar Wind and Bz component to the table.

Click for printable Solar events page

Current Solar-Terrestrial Data	Category	Radio Blackouts Use X-Ray	Solar Radiation Storms Use Proton Flux	Geomagnetic Storms Use K-Index/K-nT/ Aurora/Solar Wind/Bz	Band Openings Use Solar Flux (SN)	Electron Alert Use Electron Flux
	Extreme	X20 (1 per cycle) Complete HF blackout on entire sunlit side lasting hours	1.0e+06 (1 per cycle) Complete HF blackout in polar regions	K=9 (nT=>500) [Aur=10++] (SW=>800) [Bz=-40 -50] (4 per cycle) HF impossible. Aurora to 40°. Noise S30+.	200-300 (SN=160-250) Reliable communications all bands up through 6m	>1.0e+03 Alert Partial to complete HF blackout in polar regions
	Severe	X10 (8 per cycle) HF blackout on most of sunlit side for 1 to 2 hours	1.0e+05 (3 per cycle) Partial HF blackout in polar regions	K=8 (nT=330-500) [Aur=10+] (SW=700-800) [Bz=-30 -40] (100 per cycle) HF sporadic. Aurora to 45°. Noise S20-S30.
	Strong	X1 (175 per cycle) Wide area HF blackout for about an hour on sunlit side	1.0e+04 (10 per cycle) Degraded HF propagation in polar regions	K=7 (nT=200-330) [Aur=10] (SW=600-700) [Bz=-20 -30] (200 per cycle) HF intermittent. Aurora to 50°. Noise S9-S20.	150-200 (SN=105-160) Excellent conditions all bands up through 10m w/6m openings
	Moderate	M5 (350 per cycle) Limited HF blackout on sunlit side for tens of minutes	1.0e+03 (25 per cycle) Small effects on HF in polar regions	K=6 (nT=120-200) [Aur=9] (SW=500-600) [Bz=-10 -20] (600 per cycle) HF fade higher lats. Aurora to 55°. Noise S6-S9.	120-150 (SN=70-105) Fair to good conditions all bands up through 10m	<1.0e+03 Active Degraded HF propagation in polar regions
	Minor	M1 (2000 per cycle) Occasional loss of radio contact on sunlit side	1.0e+02 (50 per cycle) Minor impacts on HF in polar regions	K=5 (nT=70-120) [Aur=8] (SW=400-500) [Bz=0 -10] (1700 per cycle) HF fade higher lats. Aurora to 56°. Noise S4-S6.	90-120 (SN=35-70) Fair conditions all bands up through 15m	<1.0e+02 Active Minor impacts on HF in polar regions
	Active	C1 Moderate Flare Low absorption of HF signals	1.0e+01 Active Very minor impacts on HF in polar regions	K=3-4 (nT=20-70) [Aur=6-7] (SW=200-400) [Bz=0-+50] Unsettled/Active Minor HF fade higher lats. Aurora 60-58°. Noise S2-S3.	70-90 (SN=10-35) Poor to fair conditions all bands up through 20m	<1.0e+01 Normal No impacts on HF
	Normal	A1-B9 No/Small Flare No or very minor impact to HF signals	1.0e+00 Normal No impacts on HF	K=0-2 (nT=0-20) [Aur=<5] (SW=200-400) [Bz=0-+50] Inactive/Quiet No impacts on HF. Aurora 67-62°. Noise S0-S2.	64-70 (SN=0-10) Bands above 40m unusable	<1.0e+00 Normal No impacts on HF
VHF Conditions  Aur Lat (Auroral Latitude): Indicates lowest latitude from the current Aurora Activity measurement. Text color coded for low activity, hi-latitude, & mid-latitude.  Aurora (Northern Auroral Activity): Band Closed = No/Low Auroral activity. High LAT AUR = Auroral activity >60°N. MID LAT AUR = Auroral activity 60° to 30°N.  EsEU (Sporadic E - Europe): Band Closed = No Sporadic E (ES) activity. High MUF (2M only) = Cond support 2M ES 50/70/144MHz ES = Respective band open  EsNA (Sporadic E - North America): Band Closed = No Sporadic E (ES) activity. High MUF = Cond support 2M ES 144MHz ES = ES reported @ 2M  EME (Earth-Moon-Earth): Current EME degradation. Very Poor (>5.5dB), Poor (4dB), Moderate (2.5dB), Good (1.5dB), Very Good (1dB), Excellent (<1dB).  MUF (Max Usable Frequency Bar Color): No Sporadic E (ES) activity / ES reported @ 6M / ES reported @ 4M / Cond support 2M ES / ES reported @ 2M  MS (Meteor Scatter Bar): Use color code below bar to determine relative activity. ©N0NBH Paul L Herrman 2011

• OK ,the instructor profession in me comes out. The images provided are my attempt at describing how solar/weather/auroral/meteor/EME conditions impact VLF/LF/MF/HF/VHF/UHF/SHF propagation.
• Each selectable item below is a complete tutorial on the subject, each on a single image, and in easy to understand terms.
• Select desired plot from box. Page refresh updates all images at once.

Other than just choosing your favorite color for the image displayed in the Solar data panel, what are we actually seeing when we observe the various solar images?
Select "Parts of the Sun" image from the choices above, and use the table below that shows each image that you can display in the image solar panels, with an explanation of each of the spectral lines (elements) and characteristics.

• Courtesy of SDO (NASA) and the AIA consortium. I added the SDO images to the selectable images banner. Boy, these are GREAT! See the table below for the ?image= parameter. SDO is much better than SoHo, it's amazing! Refer to the HAMQSL FAQ Page for complete modification instructions and examples.
• I added the Nobeyama Radioheliograph 17 GHz image (?image=norh_17ghz).

Click for printable Solar Image Explanation Card

SoHo/SDO/Other Image	?image= Å nm Spectral Line & Ionization	TempK TempºC TempºF Best used to see	SDO/Other Image	?image= Å nm Spectral Line & Ionization	TempK TempºC TempºF Best used to see	SDO/Other Image	?image= Å nm Spectral Line & Ionization	TempK TempºC TempºF Best used to see
	vsm1 6302 Å 630.2 nm Iron (Fe) 0 times ionized	5,800K 5,527ºC 9,980ºF Photosphere, sunspots		vsm2 8542 Å 854.2 nm Calcium (Ca) 1 times ionized	10,000K 9,727ºC 17,540ºF Photosphere, Chromosphere, sunspots		corona 9500 Å 950 nm White Light	2,000,000K 1,999,727ºC 3,599,540ºF Corona
	c2 NA NA White Light	2,000,000K 1,999,727ºC 3,599,540ºF Corona, CME, Flare		c3 NA NA White Light	2,000,000K 1,999,727ºC 3,599,540ºF Corona, CME, Flare		sh 10830 Å 1083 nm Helium (He) 0 times ionized	20,000K 19,727ºC 35,540ºF Chromosphere, Tran-reg, sunspots, Granules
	ha 6562.8 Å 656.28nm Hydrogen (H) Hα-Line	20,000K 19,727ºC 35,540ºF Chromosphere, Tran-reg, sunspots, flares		norh_17ghz 17 GHz 17647 μm Radio Interferometer	N/A N/A N/A Photosphere, sunspots, flares		mdi 6767 Å 676.7 nm Nickel (Ni) 0 times ionized	6,000K 5727ºC 10,340ºF Photosphere, sunspots
	mag Magnetogram N/A N/A N/A	N/A N/A N/A Sunspots		sdo_094 94 Å 9.4 nm Iron (Fe) 17 times ionized	9,000,000K 9,000,000ºC 16,000,000ºF Flaring regions		sdo_131 131 Å 13.1 nm Iron (Fe) 7/19/22 times ionized	1,000,000K 999,727ºC 1,799,540ºF Flaring regions
	sdo_171 171 Å 17.1 nm Iron (Fe) 8 times ionized	1,000,000K 999,727ºC 1,799,540ºF Quiet corona, upper transition region		sdo_193 193 Å 19.3 nm Iron (Fe) 11/23 times ionized	1,500,000K 1,499,727ºC 2,699,540ºF Corona and hot flare plasma		sdo_211 211 Å 22.1 nm Iron (Fe) 13 times ionized	2,000,000K 1,999,727ºC 3,599,540ºF Active-region corona
	sdo_304 304 Å 30.4 nm Helium (He) 1 times ionized	80,000K 79,727ºC 143,540ºF Chromosphere, transition region		sdo_335 335 Å 33.5 nm Iron (Fe) 15 times ionized	5,000,000K 5,000,000ºC 9,000,000ºF Active-region corona		sdo_1600 1600 Å 160.0 nm Carbon (C) 3 times ionized	Unknown     Transition region, upper photosphere
	sdo_1700 1700 Å 170.0 nm Continuum	Unknown     Temperature minimum, photosphere		sdo_4500 4500 Å 450.0 nm White Light	2,000,000K 1,999,727ºC 3,599,540ºF Photosphere		sdo_mag1 Magnetogram N/A N/A N/A	N/A N/A N/A Sunspots
	sdo_comp1 211/193/ 171 Å Composite Image	Unknown     See above		sdo_comp2 304/211/ 171 Å Composite Image	Unknown     See above		sdo_comp3 94/193/ 335 Å Composite Image	Unknown     See above
	sdo_comp4 170/171 Å HMI Mag Composite Image	Unknown     See above	©N0NBH Paul L Herrman 2011

• Courtesy of Jerry (VE6TL).
• Data from SOHO's/NOAA's database and graphed 304A flux versus SFI over a 16 year period. Overall, there appears to be good agreement in the two measurements.
• One of the interesting differences in the two curves is the differential. It started out consistent for the first 5 years, then widened after the first peak (2001), broadened, and narrowed considerably at the maximum (2002-3). Since then it has been narrowing until the two curves essentially track each other (since 2009). N0NBH comment - I believe this may be the SEM sensor degrading over time.