:Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts
:Issued: 2000 Feb 01 2112 UT
HIGHLIGHTS OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY
24 - 30 JANUARY 2000

SOLAR ACTIVITY VARIED BETWEEN VERY LOW AND LOW LEVELS. ISOLATED B-
AND C-CLASS SUBFLARES WERE THE ORDER OF THE DAY. BY AND LARGE, THE
VISIBLE REGIONS WERE SMALL AND SIMPLY STRUCTURED.

REAL-TIME SOLAR WIND DATA WERE AVAILABLE FROM THE NASA ADVANCED
COMPOSITION EXPLORER (ACE) SPACECRAFT FOR MOST OF THE PERIOD.
RECURRENT, POSITIVE-POLARITY CORONAL HOLE EFFECTS BEGAN ON 27
JANUARY AND CONTINUED THROUGH THE REST OF THE PERIOD. THE TRANSITION
TO THE CORONAL HOLE WIND STREAM WAS ACCOMPANIED BY INCREASED
VELOCITIES, WHICH REACHED A PEAK OF 830 KM/SEC ON 28 JANUARY; LOW
DENSITIES, INCREASED IMF BZ VARIABILITY WITH SOUTHERLY DEFLECTIONS
TO MINUS 30 NT (GSM), AND A SHIFT TO AN AWAY (POSITIVE POLARITY)
SOLAR SECTOR.

THERE WERE NO PROTON EVENTS DETECTED AT GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT.

THE GREATER THAN 2 MEV ELECTRON FLUX AT GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT
INCREASED TO MODERATE TO HIGH LEVELS DURING 29 - 30 JANUARY.

THE GEOMAGNETIC FIELD WAS BRIEFLY DISTURBED ON 24 AND 26 JANUARY WITH
ACTIVE TO MINOR STORM LEVELS. A RECURRENT CORONAL HOLE-RELATED
DISTURBANCE OCCURRED DURING 27 - 29 JANUARY. ACTIVE TO MAJOR STORM
LEVELS WERE DETECTED DURING THIS DISTURBANCE. FIELD ACTIVITY
DECLINED TO QUIET TO UNSETTLED LEVELS ON 30 JANUARY.

FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY
02 - 28 FEBRUARY 2000

SOLAR ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM LOW TO MODERATE LEVELS
DURING THE PERIOD. OCCASIONAL C-CLASS FLARES ARE LIKELY THROUGHOUT
THE PERIOD.  INCREASED ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED DURING 05 - 20 FEBRUARY
WITH ISOLATED M-CLASS FLARES POSSIBLE DUE TO THE ANTICIPATED RETURN
OF PREVIOUSLY ACTIVE LONGITUDES. ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO RETURN TO
LOW LEVELS BEGINNING 21 FEBRUARY.

NO PROTON EVENTS ARE EXPECTED AT GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT.

THE GREATER THAN 2 MEV ELECTRON FLUX AT GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT IS
EXPECTED TO BE AT MODERATE TO HIGH LEVELS THROUGH 03 FEBRUARY.
NORMAL TO MODERATE FLUXES ARE EXPECTED DURING 04 - 22 FEBRUARY.
MODERATE TO HIGH FLUXES ARE EXPECTED FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE
PERIOD.

GEOMAGNETIC FIELD ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO BE AT MOSTLY QUIET TO
UNSETTLED LEVELS THROUGH 22 FEBRUARY. HOWEVER, ACTIVE PERIODS WILL
BE POSSIBLE AROUND 06 FEBRUARY DUE TO CORONAL HOLE EFFECTS. ACTIVE
TO MINOR STORM LEVELS WILL BE POSSIBLE DURING 23 - 25 FEBRUARY DUE
TO CORONAL HOLE EFFECTS. QUIET TO UNSETTLED LEVELS ARE EXPECTED FOR
THE BALANCE OF THE PERIOD, BARRING AN EARTH-DIRECTED CME.


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