Better Times - June 2003

Ken Hubal of Ohio, sent in this H-Alpha image he took back in June of 2003 using a SolarMax-40. It reminds of us what we can expect as we climb out of solar minimum. "Caught a Flare"; we had an M-Class event on March 25, that several of the SID observers were able to detect. It was the first time since last year that I was able to capture an event while the detector is constantly running 24/7. It was nice to know the equipment still works. With warmer weather and more observing opportunities for the northern hemisphere observers, I'm hoping some renewed solar activity will be presented to us over the next 6 months. Keep on your toes, solar events may surprise us.

Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance Report

Michael Hill, SID Analyst
114 Prospect St
Marlborough, MA 01752 USA
noatak@aol.com

Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances (SID)
Recorded During March 2008
(Analysis performed by Michael Hill, SID Analyst)

Date	Max	Imp
080325	1855	2

Importance rating: Duration

-1: <19

1: 19-25

1+: 26-32

2: 33-45

2+: 46-85

3: 86-125

3+: >125

Observer	Code	Station(s) monitored
A Clerkin	A29	NAA
D Toldo	A52	NWC
J Wallace	A97	NAA
P Mortfield	A108	NAA
K Hubal	A117	NAA
L Loudet	A118	NAA

The events listed above meet at least one of the following criteria

Event reported by two or more observers within +/- 5 minutes
Event matched to GOES-8 XRA event to within +/- 15 minutes and event time < 1000 UT
Reported by observer with a high quality rating > 8 (scale 1-10)

Solar Events

March was another slow month with one correlated event reported by our observers. That was the M-class flare of the 25th. Not all of us recorded it. In fact I myself did not detect any trace of it. I get good sunset/sunrise patterns but not this event. Odd but worth noting. So what was going on this month? The sun winked at us on the 11th with a single B class flare and then a little more than ten days later on the 24th a great deal of activity started up, followed by that one energetic event of the 25th. After this the sun quieted right back down to more normal activity levels for this time of the cycle. Thanks to all of you for reporting in. Again, even though your ID is not listed in this report, the official AAVSO SID Database file includes all those that submitted reports even if you listed no events.

Solar Flare Summary Based on GOES-12 Data

Solar Flare Summary

Sunspot Data

American Relative Sunspot Numbers(Ra) for March 2008
[boldface = maximum, minimum]

Day	N	Raw Mean	Ra
1	34	0	0
2	35	0	0
3	33	4	3
4	25	2	1
5	33	2	1
6	25	6	4
7	21	0	0
8	29	0	0
9	30	0	0
10	28	5	4
11	26	1	1
12	29	0	0
13	27	0	0
14	23	0	0
15	26	5	4
16	31	6	3
17	33	4	2
18	25	1	1
19	30	0	0
20	32	0	0
21	31	0	0
22	32	0	0
23	36	9	5
24	36	34	25
25	35	51	38
26	33	57	42
27	30	53	39
28	23	54	37
29	42	47	36
30	32	45	33
31	31	34	24
Means	30.2	13.5	9.8

Total No. of Observers: 56
Total No. of Observations: 935

March 2008 Sunspot Observers

AAP	A. Abbott	16
AJV	J. Alonso	20
ARAG	G. Araujo	31
BARH	H. Barnes	11
BATR	R. Battaiola	6
BERJ	J. Berdejo	12
BMF	M. Boschat	14
BOSB	B. Bose	15
BRAB	B. Branchett	31
BRAD	D. Branchett	13
BRAR	R. Branch	27
BROB	R. Brown	29
BVC	A. Buck	31
CHAG	G. Morales	27
CKB	B. Cudnik	23
CLZ	L. Corp	4
CNT	D. Chantiles	13
DEJV	J. van Delft	14
DEMF	F. Dempsey	2
DGP	G. Dyck	11
DUBF	F. Dubois	25
FERJ	J. Fernandez	9
FLET	T. Fleming	25
FUJK	K. Fujimori	26
GFT	F. Gobet	6
HALB	B. Halls	5
HMQ	M. Harris	26
KAPJ	J. Kaplan	17
KNJS	J. & S. Knight	14
KROL	L. Krozel	2
LARJ	J. Larriba	10
MARE	E. Mariani	8
MARJ	J. Maranon	22
MCE	E. Mochizuki	23
MEU	E. Mason	3
MILJ	J. Miller	13
MMI	M. Moeller	18
OATS	S. Oatney	23
OBSO	IPS Observatory	17
RICE	E. C. Richardson	21
RITA	A. Ritchie	14
SCGL	G. Schott	24
SDP	D. Sharples	2
SIMC	C. Simpson	10
STEF	G. Stefanopoulis	12
STEM	G. Stemmler	15
SUZM	M. Suzuki	27
SZUM	M. Szulc	21
TESD	D. Teske	22
TJV	J. Temprano	14
URBP	P. Urbanski	24
VARG	A. Vargas	23
VIDD	D. Vidican	15
WILW	W. Wilson	23
WRP	R. Wheeler	2
YESH	H. Yesilyaprak	24

Reporting addresses:

Sunspot Reports
Email: solar@aavso.org
Postal Mail: AAVSO,
49 Bay State Rd. Cambridge, MA, 02138
Fax: 617-354-0665

SID Flare Reports
Email: noatak@aol.com
Postal Mail: Mike Hill,
114 Prospect St., Marlboro, MA, 01752

Smoothed Mean Sunspot Numbers (Rsm) from January 2000 to September 2007 (Waldmeier method).

10 cm Solar Flux and American Relative Sunspot Numbers (Ra) for March 2008
(10cm Source: http://www.drao.nrc.ca/icarus)