:Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts
:Issued: 2000 Aug 08 2112 UT
HIGHLIGHTS OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY
31 JULY - 06 AUGUST 2000

SOLAR ACTIVITY WAS AT LOW LEVELS THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD. ISOLATED B-
AND C-CLASS SUBFLARES OCCURRED. MOST REGIONS WERE SMALL AND
SIMPLY-STRUCTURED. HOWEVER, REGION 9114 (N12, L = 329, CLASS/AREA
EAO/250 ON 06 AUGUST) WAS OF MODERATE SIZE AND MAGNETIC COMPLEXITY
AND SHOWED GRADUAL GROWTH DURING THE LATTER HALF OF THE PERIOD. OLD
REGION 9077 (N18, L = 310), WHICH PRODUCED A NUMBER OF MAJOR FLARES
DURING ITS PREVIOUS TRANSIT, RETURNED AS A SMALL, SIMPLY-STRUCTURED
SUNSPOT GROUP.

REAL-TIME SOLAR WIND DATA WERE AVAILABLE FROM THE NASA ADVANCED
COMPOSITION EXPLORER (ACE) SPACECRAFT FOR MOST OF THE PERIOD. THERE
WERE TWO NOTABLE CHANGES IN THE SOLAR WIND FLOW DURING THE PERIOD.
THE FIRST WAS A SOLAR SECTOR SHIFT, FROM TOWARD (NEGATIVE POLARITY)
TO AWAY (POSITIVE-POLARITY), LATE ON 31 JULY ACCOMPANIED BY A PERIOD
OF SUSTAINED SOUTHWARD IMF BZ WITH DEFLECTIONS TO MINUS 9 NT (GSM).
THE SECOND WAS A POSSIBLE CORONAL HOLE SIGNATURE ON 05 - 06 AUGUST
WITH INCREASED WIND SPEEDS (PEAKS TO 620 KM/SEC) AND PERIODS OF
SOUTHWARD IMF BZ WITH PEAK SOUTHERLY DEFLECTIONS TO MINUS 11 NT.

NO PROTON EVENTS WERE DETECTED AT GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT.

THE GREATER THAN 2 MEV ELECTRON FLUX AT GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT BRIEFLY
REACHED HIGH LEVELS ON 04 AUGUST, BUT WAS OTHERWISE AT NORMAL TO
MODERATE LEVELS.

GEOMAGNETIC FIELD ACTIVITY INCREASED DURING 04 - 06 AUGUST WITH
ACTIVE TO (ISOLATED) MAJOR STORM PERIODS. MOSTLY QUIET TO UNSETTLED
CONDITIONS OCCURRED DURING THE REST OF THE PERIOD.

FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY
09 AUGUST - 04 SEPTEMBER 2000

SOLAR ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO BE AT LOW TO MODERATE LEVELS. ISOLATED
M-CLASS FLARES ARE POSSIBLE DURING THE PERIOD.

NO PROTON EVENTS ARE EXPECTED AT GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT.

THE GREATER THAN 2 MEV ELECTRON FLUX AT GEOSYNCHRONOUS ORBIT IS
EXPECTED TO BE AT NORMAL TO MODERATE LEVELS THROUGH 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 LEVELS WILL BE POSSIBLE DURING 31 AUGUST - 02
SEPTEMBER.


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