:Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts
:Issued: 2000 Mar 15 2112 UT
HIGHLIGHTS OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY
06 - 12 MARCH 2000

SOLAR ACTIVITY VARIED FROM LOW TO MODERATE LEVELS. ACTIVITY WAS LOW
DURING 06, 09, AND 10 MARCH WITH OCCASIONAL C-CLASS FLARES. ACTIVITY
WAS MODERATE ON 07 MARCH DUE TO AN M1/1F EVENT AT 07/1950UT FROM AN
UNNUMBERED REGION NEAR S22 ON THE EAST LIMB. AN OPTICALLY
UNCORRELATED M1 FLARE ALSO OCCURRED AT 07/1607UT. ACTIVITY WAS AGAIN
MODERATE ON 08 MARCH DUE TO AN IMPULSIVE, OPTICALLY UNCORRELATED M1
FLARE THAT OCCURRED AT 08/0200UT. ON 11 MARCH, ACTIVITY WAS MODERATE
DUE TO AN M1/1N EVENT AT 11/0927UT FROM REGION 8906 (S16, L = 122,
CLASS/AREA DKC/800 ON 11 MARCH). ACTIVITY WAS ALSO MODERATE ON 12
MARCH WITH AN M3/1B EVENT OCCURRING AT 12/2338UT FROM REGION 8906.
REGION 8906 WAS THE MOST IMPRESSIVE REGION DURING THE PERIOD. THE
REGION SHOWED RAPID GROWTH AND INCREASED ACTIVITY TOWARD THE END OF
THE PERIOD BECOMING AN FKC GROUP WITH 41 SPOTS, MEASURING 850
MILLIONTHS, AND A BETA-DELTA MAGNETIC CLASSIFICATION BY MARCH 12TH.

REAL-TIME SOLAR WIND DATA WERE AVAILABLE FROM THE NASA ADVANCED
COMPOSITION EXPLORER (ACE) SPACECRAFT FOR MOST OF THE PERIOD. SOLAR
WIND CONDITIONS WERE MOSTLY NOMINAL FOR THE PERIOD.

THERE WERE NO PROTON EVENTS DETECTED AT GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT.

THE GREATER THAN 2 MEV ELECTRON FLUX AT GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT WAS AT
NORMAL TO MODERATE LEVELS FOR THE PERIOD.

THE GEOMAGNETIC FIELD WAS MOSTLY QUIET TO UNSETTLED FOR THE FIRST SIX
DAYS OF THE PERIOD, 06-11 MARCH. ISOLATED ACTIVE CONDITIONS OCCURRED
ON 06 MARCH. ACTIVE CONDITIONS WERE ALSO REPORTED AT HIGH LATITUDES
ON 11 MARCH. UNSETTLED TO ACTIVE CONDITIONS, WITH MINOR STORMING AT
HIGH LATITUDES OCCURRED ON THE LAST DAY OF THE PERIOD, 12 MARCH.

FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY
15 MARCH - 10 APRIL 2000

SOLAR ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM LOW TO MODERATE LEVELS
THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD WITH C-CLASS FLARES BEING THE MOST LIKELY.
CHANCES FOR ISOLATED MAJOR FLARE ACTIVITY FROM REGION 8906 WILL
CONTINUE UNTIL THE REGION ROTATES OVER THE WEST LIMB ON 21 MARCH.
THE POTENTIAL FOR MAJOR FLARE ACTIVITY WILL PERSIST THROUGHOUT THE
PERIOD WITH THE RETURN OF OLD REGION 8882 ON 19 MARCH.

PROTON EVENTS ARE POSSIBLE IF REGION 8906 AND RETURNING OLD REGION
8882 PRODUCE MAJOR FLARES DURING THE PERIOD.

THE GREATER THAN 2 MEV ELECTRON FLUX AT GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT IS
EXPECTED TO BE AT NORMAL TO MODERATE LEVELS DURING MOST OF THE
PERIOD.

GEOMAGNETIC FIELD ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO BE AT QUIET TO UNSETTLED
LEVELS DURING MOST OF THE PERIOD (BARRING AN EARTH-DIRECTED CME).
HOWEVER, ACTIVE CONDITIONS WILL BE  POSSIBLE DURING 22 - 24 MARCH
DUE TO RECURRENT CORONAL HOLE EFFECTS.

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