BARREL Daily Update Feb 1st 2014

Hi all, 

There was another couple of flares last night. They appear to potentially be more geo-effective than the first but we need to see more modeling to be sure about this. NOAA has upped the possibility of an X-class flare from 10%  to 15%. All of these occurred from sunspot 1967 and it's still growing in complexity! Yay! Even more good news is that it appears that a Sunspot off the Easter limb (not yet in view of the Earth) is also flaring with large M class flares. Hopefully this will also continue as it moves into view and begins to become geo-effective throughout the next week or two (depending on how far back around the Sun it is). Currently Enlil is predicting that the Jan 30 CME will hit us on the morning of Feb. 2nd. It doesn't appear to have updated yet to include the two latest solar events. 

I think our not looking at the Sun worked, lets not watch it for the rest of the weekend and hopefully next week will be even more exciting! 

SANAE is hoping to have a launch today, but the winds are still expected to be strong at Halley. The winds should die down at Halley as the day continues so we're hoping that they'll be able to launch on Sunday. 

Ground Weather:
SANAE IV: 
Temp.: -10. C
Wind speed: 5 knots

Halley 6: 
Temp.: ? C
Wind speed: ? knots 

Payloads up: 
SANAE IV: 2A, 2B, 2E
Halley 6:  2L, 2O, 2P

Payloads coming down:

Collection times for EFW:  

2014-01-28

A: 19:30 - 23:59

2014:01-29

B: 17:20 - 22:30

2014-01-30

A: 13:40 - 20:40

2014-01-31

A: 16:40 - 23:40 

B: 12:30 - 19:30

2014-02-02

A: 13:30 - 20:20

2014-02-03

B: 12:45 - 19:45

2014-02-05

A:13:15 - 18:59

A: 19:10 - 20:30

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :

very quiet, but perhaps a very small very faint very narrowed band EMIC wave at about 06:00 UT. 

GOES Electron Flux:

The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels.

GOES Proton Flux:

The proton levels are at moderate levels. 

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 

Solar wind speed: 335.6 km/s 

Solar proton density: 3.2 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 87

NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 60% and a 15% chance of an X class flare.  

There are currently no coronal holes observed on the Earthward side of the Sun. 

Kp is quiet 

kp =1 with a 24 max of kp = 1

Bz = 0.7 north

Btotal = 2.9 nT  

From Kyoto:

AE: some small activity

Dst: very quiet.

Make sure to back up your computer!

BARREL Daily Update Jan 28th 2014

Hi all, 

Sun spot 1944 is producing lots of M class flares and our balloons saw more than a few. It has also been given a new name, 1967. It appears to have decayed from what it was on the last rotation, but it's still quiet active. 

Halley is hoping to have a launch today or tomorrow. This would give us once again an array of 7 balloons. Hopefully we'll have some activity for them to see. Tomorrow is suppose to be more active than today and the 30th has an even better chance for activity. It looks like NOAA is thinking that the 30th will have a growing chance of substorm activity over the next three days. I think we should try to grab a good conjunction on at least the 30th. If this keeps going, we're going to have to work over the weekend :). 

You can see that the winds are changing. 2L looks to be starting to cut down the middle of the continent, like 1I did last year, instead of continuing around the continent like 2I or 2T this year. If you remember, this was close to the time period when we had 1G sitting almost stationary for a period of days right underneath one of the GOES footprints. Perhaps we'll get lucky again this year with a similar extended conjunction. 

Ground Weather:

SANAE IV: 

Temp.: -10. C

Wind speed: 9

Halley 6: 

Temp.: -7.6 C

Wind speed: 9 knots 

Payloads up: 

SANAE IV: 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D

Halley 6:  2L, 2O

Payloads coming down:

none at the moment. 

Collection times for EFW:  

2013-01-06 (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:40-21:30   (6h 10m)

B: 17:30-19:30  (2h)

20:30-23:00 (2h 30m)

2013-01-07 (A quite west, B very west of stations)

A: 19:00-21:00  (2h)

22:30-23:59  (1h 30m)

B: 20:45-21:45  (1h)

00:45Jan8-02:00Jan8  (2h 15m)

2013-01-09  (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:15-21:15 (at 16k)  (6h)      

B: 17:30-20:30 (at 16k)  (3h)

     20:33-24:00 (at 4k)   (3.5hrs)

2013-01-10 (west of stations)

A: 18:00-01:00(jan11)

B: 20:00-03:00(jan11)

2013-01-11

B: 14:45-21:00

2013-01-12

A: 14:40-21:30

B: 17:00-24:00

2014-01-15

 A: 14:30-21:30

2014-01-22

A: 2014-01-22/17:15 - 23:59:59

2014-01-23

B: 2014-01-23/15:00 - 22:00

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :

Nice EMIC waves last night and a faint one this morning.  

GOES Electron Flux:

The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels.

GOES Proton Flux:

The proton levels are at moderate levels. 

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 

Solar wind speed: 352.8 km/s 

Solar proton density: 1.7 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 62

NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 50% and a 5% chance of an X class flare.  

There are currently no coronal holes observed on the Earthward side of the Sun. 

Kp is quiet 

kp =1 with a 24 max of kp = 2

Bz = 0.5 south

Btotal = 9.6 nT  

From Kyoto:

AE: quiet

Dst: quiet

BARREL Daily Update Jan 27th 2014

Hi all, 

Yesterday Halley launched 2O and SANAE launched 2D today. On another note, as we haven't been able to reconnect with 2C it is likely that it has self terminated or is terminating very shortly.

If you haven't checked out Aaron's e-mail, with this new increase, we've been able to get rid of almost all the backlog of burst data! So, if you had a time period that you were interested in, but perhaps figured wasn't as interesting as some other things in the cue... Speak up! We may be able to grab it before we overwrite. Also thanks to the EFW and EMFISIS teams in particular and the whole Van Allen team in general for getting this to work!

Sunspots 1944 and 1946 are still peaking their way around and appear to still be active! There was also a small CME which may give us a glancing blow on Jan 29th. The ENLIL models though only show a very very slight increase in density and nothing really in SW velocity. If we aren't in trouble with over writing important stuff, perhaps we should grab some burst data during this time, but I don't think it should be a high priority. There may be better stuff coming with the reappearance of these two sunspot regions, so something to keep in mind. Also If you remember there was a larger geo-effective coronal hole right after these sunspot regions. From the pictures of the backside of the sun, it looks like this will also make a reappearance. This coronal hole had SW velocities > 800 km/s, but northward Bz. Hopefully we'll be able to see some more amazing geomagnetic activity from both the sunspots and this coronal hole in a week or so's time.

Ground Weather:
SANAE IV: 
Temp.: -6. C
Wind speed: 12

Halley 6: 
Temp.: -5.8 C
Wind speed: 8 knots 

Payloads up: 
SANAE IV: 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D
Halley 6:  2L, 2O

Payloads coming down:
2C

Collection times for EFW:  
2013-01-06 (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)
A: 15:40-21:30   (6h 10m)
B: 17:30-19:30  (2h)

20:30-23:00 (2h 30m)

2013-01-07 (A quite west, B very west of stations)
A: 19:00-21:00  (2h)

22:30-23:59  (1h 30m)

B: 20:45-21:45  (1h)
00:45Jan8-02:00Jan8  (2h 15m)

2013-01-09  (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:15-21:15 (at 16k)  (6h)      

B: 17:30-20:30 (at 16k)  (3h)

     20:33-24:00 (at 4k)   (3.5hrs)

2013-01-10 (west of stations)

A: 18:00-01:00(jan11)

B: 20:00-03:00(jan11)

2013-01-11

B: 14:45-21:00

2013-01-12

A: 14:40-21:30

B: 17:00-24:00

2014-01-15

 A: 14:30-21:30

2014-01-22

A: 2014-01-22/17:15 - 23:59:59

2014-01-23

B: 2014-01-23/15:00 - 22:00

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :
EMIC waves last night.

GOES Electron Flux:
The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels.

GOES Proton Flux:
The proton levels are at moderate levels. 

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 
Solar wind speed: 328.2 km/s 
Solar proton density: 1.8 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 109
NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 20% and a 1% chance of an X class flare.  

There are currently no coronal holes observed on the Earthward side of the Sun. 

Kp is quiet 
kp =0 with a 24 max of kp = 2

Bz = 0.7 south
Btotal = 5.2 nT  

From Kyoto:
AE: quiet

Dst: quiet

BARREL Daily Update Jan 24th 2014

Hi all, 

It has been quiet on the precipitation front. Last year remember we started with ~ 10 days of nothing. We haven't had 10 days yet, but hopefully the Sun will wake up before we break that record. It does look like this quiet period has given the electrons in the radiation belts in the "low and mid" energies (2MeV and 5MeV) range time to recover. Hopefully this means that with the next compression event, or geomagnetic storm, we'll have some EMIC waves with lots of REP events! Fingers crossed. 

You can find these and other  space weather diagnostic plots on the Van Allen Probes Gateway. 

> 5 MeV Electrons and > 50MeV Protons 

>2 MeV electrons and > 20 MeV protons 

Ground Weather:

SANAE IV: 

Temp.: -8. C

Wind speed: 15 knots but decreasing this afternoon/evening.

Halley 6: 

Temp.: -3.2 C

Wind speed: 15 knots 

Payloads up: 

SANAE IV: 2A, 2B, 2C

Halley 6:  2L,

Payloads coming down:

? 

Collection times for EFW:  

2013-01-06 (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:40-21:30   (6h 10m)

B: 17:30-19:30  (2h)

20:30-23:00 (2h 30m)

2013-01-07 (A quite west, B very west of stations)

A: 19:00-21:00  (2h)

22:30-23:59  (1h 30m)

B: 20:45-21:45  (1h)

00:45Jan8-02:00Jan8  (2h 15m)

2013-01-09  (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:15-21:15 (at 16k)  (6h)      

B: 17:30-20:30 (at 16k)  (3h)

     20:33-24:00 (at 4k)   (3.5hrs)

2013-01-10 (west of stations)

A: 18:00-01:00(jan11)

B: 20:00-03:00(jan11)

2013-01-11

B: 14:45-21:00

2013-01-12

A: 14:40-21:30

B: 17:00-24:00

2014-01-15

 A: 14:30-21:30

2014-01-22

A: 2014-01-22/17:15 - 23:59:59

2014-01-23

B: 2014-01-23/15:00 - 22:00

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :

quiet. Possibly an EMIC wave last night but it was very noisy.

GOES Electron Flux:

The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels.

GOES Proton Flux:

The proton levels are at moderate levels. 

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 

Solar wind speed: 375.8 km/s 

Solar proton density: 2.1 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 121

NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 15% and a 1% chance of an X class flare.  

There are currently no other holes observed on the Earthward side of the Sun. 

Kp is quiet 

kp =1 with a 24 max of kp = 3

Bz = 0.7 south

Btotal = 4.6 nT  

From Kyoto:

AE: quiet

Dst: very quiet. 

BARREL Daily update Jan 22nd 2014

Hi all, 

We had a substorm earlier today! 2X was also cut down earlier this morning. 

Ground Weather:

SANAE IV: 

Temp.: -8. C

Wind speed: 14.5 knots

Halley 6: 

Temp.: -4.9 C

Wind speed: 11 knots 

Payloads up: 

SANAE IV: 2A, 2B, 2C

Halley 6:  2L,

Payloads coming down:

 2X Some are getting lowish but no news yet of another one coming down. 

Collection times for EFW:  

2013-01-06 (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:40-21:30   (6h 10m)

B: 17:30-19:30  (2h)

20:30-23:00 (2h 30m)

2013-01-07 (A quite west, B very west of stations)

A: 19:00-21:00  (2h)

22:30-23:59  (1h 30m)

B: 20:45-21:45  (1h)

00:45Jan8-02:00Jan8  (2h 15m)

2013-01-09  (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:15-21:15 (at 16k)  (6h)      

B: 17:30-20:30 (at 16k)  (3h)

     20:33-24:00 (at 4k)   (3.5hrs)

2013-01-10 (west of stations)

A: 18:00-01:00(jan11)

B: 20:00-03:00(jan11)

2013-01-11

B: 14:45-21:00

2013-01-12

A: 14:40-21:30

B: 17:00-24:00

2014-01-15

 A: 14:30-21:30

2014-01-22

A: 2014-01-22/17:15 - 23:59:59

2014-01-23

B: 2014-01-23/15:00 - 22:00

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :

quiet. 

GOES Electron Flux:

The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels, although they have seen some structure throughout the last 24 hours. 

GOES Proton Flux:

The proton levels are at moderate levels. 

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 

Solar wind speed: 505.2 km/s 

Solar proton density: 0.4 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 141

NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 30% and a 1% chance of an X class flare.  

The coronal hole has hit. We are seeing SW velocities above 500 km/s. 

Kp is quiet 

kp =2 with a 24 max of kp = 3

Bz = 0.8 north

Btotal = 6.3 nT  

From Kyoto:

AE: We are seeing a series of substorms! 

Dst: very quiet. 

BARREL Daily Update Jan 21 2014

Hi all, 

2C was launched yesterday but we don't expect anymore launches today. 

The coronal hole seems to be starting to reach us! We've had a jump in the density and SW speeds are starting to increase. Hopefully we'll see much higher wind speeds in the next coming days. 

Ground Weather:

SANAE IV: 

Temp.: -7. C

Wind speed: 6 knot

Halley 6: 

Temp.: -2.3 C

Wind speed: 9 knots 

Payloads up: 

SANAE IV: 2X, 2A, 2B, 2C

Halley 6:  2L,

Payloads coming down:

 Some are getting lowish but no news yet of another one coming down. 

Collection times for EFW:  

2013-01-06 (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:40-21:30   (6h 10m)

B: 17:30-19:30  (2h)

20:30-23:00 (2h 30m)

2013-01-07 (A quite west, B very west of stations)

A: 19:00-21:00  (2h)

22:30-23:59  (1h 30m)

B: 20:45-21:45  (1h)

00:45Jan8-02:00Jan8  (2h 15m)

2013-01-09  (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:15-21:15 (at 16k)  (6h)      

B: 17:30-20:30 (at 16k)  (3h)

     20:33-24:00 (at 4k)   (3.5hrs)

2013-01-10 (west of stations)

A: 18:00-01:00(jan11)

B: 20:00-03:00(jan11)

2013-01-11

B: 14:45-21:00

2013-01-12

A: 14:40-21:30

B: 17:00-24:00

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :

A bright EMIC wave this morning. 

GOES Electron Flux:

The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels, although they have seen some structure throughout the last 24 hours. 

GOES Proton Flux:

The proton levels are at moderate levels. 

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 

Solar wind speed: 328.9 km/s 

Solar proton density: 25.7 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 131

NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 30% and a 1% chance of an X class flare.  

There is a coronal hole coming which is expected to hit Earth on Jan 23rd -24th with winds increasing on Jan 21st. This colorant hole is positively polarized, so hopefully we'll see some more negative Bz (?). 

Kp is quiet 

kp =2 with a 24 max of kp = 3

Bz = 2.5 south

Btotal = 4.9 nT  

From Kyoto:

AE:  possible small (very small) substorm in progress

Dst: very quiet. 

BARREL Daily Update Jan 17th 2014

Hi all, 

2T, after ~22 days afloat, has been terminated. It was a pioneer of a payload, our first BARREL campaign balloon to have circumnavigate antarctica, the Robert Falcon Scott of our payloads if you will. Not only did 2T circumnavigate antarctica, but it it did a tour of our magnetosphere having traversed from closed to open and back to closed magnetic field lines. We believe it saw direct injections of relativistic electrons from the SW, along with a wide range of other activity. 2T is survived by it's sister payloads, 2X, 2Y, 2A, and 2L all currently up at float altitude. 

Things are very very quiet at the moment. However it looks like we have a coronal hole which may hit us on Jan 22nd and there are a number or numbered sunspots making their way back around. In particular sunspot 1936 is about to show on the Earthward side of the sun and has been crackling with c class flares. Very small flares, but we can hope that perhaps it will grow in complexity by the time it becomes geo-effective. This is likely after Jan 22nd. This is the active region which produced those large M-class flares on January 1st. Hopefully it hasn't died down too much on it's trip around the Sun. 

Ground Weather:

SANAE IV: 

Temp.: -7. C

Wind speed: 8 knots

Halley 6: 

Temp.: -2.6 C

Wind speed: 14 knots 

Payloads up: Possible launch today from either site

SANAE IV: 2X, 2Y, 2A

Halley 6:  2L

Payloads coming down:

2T Some are getting lowish but no news yet of another one coming down. 

Collection times for EFW:  

2013-01-03

A: 16:00-17:30 (MLTs 11.5-13) Pass to West of stations

A: 19:10-21:40 (MLTs 14-16.5)

B: 17:10-18:40 (MLTs 11.5-13)

B: 21:15-22:45 (MLTs 14.5-16)

2013-01-04 to 2013-01-05   Far to West pass

A: 18:50-20:20 (MLTs 11.3-12.8)

A: 22:50-00:20(jan5)   (MLTs 15-16)

B: 20:15-21:40 (MLTs 11.5-13)

2013-01-05      

A: 16:20-18:20 (MLTs 14.5-16.2)   pass b/t stations

B: 14:20-16:20 (MLTs 11.6-13.4)   pass b/t and West of stations

    18:00-20:00 (MLTs 14.3-16.3)

2013-01-06 (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:40-21:30   (6h 10m)

B: 17:30-19:30  (2h)

20:30-23:00 (2h 30m)

2013-01-07 (A quite west, B very west of stations)

A: 19:00-21:00  (2h)

22:30-23:59  (1h 30m)

B: 20:45-21:45  (1h)

00:45Jan8-02:00Jan8  (2h 15m)

2013-01-09  (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:15-21:15 (at 16k)  (6h)      

B: 17:30-20:30 (at 16k)  (3h)

     20:33-24:00 (at 4k)   (3.5hrs)

2013-01-10 (west of stations)

A: 18:00-01:00(jan11)

B: 20:00-03:00(jan11)

2013-01-11

B: 14:45-21:00

2013-01-12

A: 14:40-21:30

B: 17:00-24:00

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :

Not much to say, very quiet.

GOES Electron Flux:

The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels. 

GOES Proton Flux:

The proton levels are at moderate levels. 

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 

Solar wind speed: 354.6 km/s 

Solar proton density: 2.0 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 77

NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 1% and a 1% chance of an X class flare.  

Kp is quiet 

kp =0 with a 24 max of kp = 1

Bz = 0.6 south

Btotal = 4.5 nT  

From Kyoto:

AE:  very quiet!

Dst: very very quiet.