The Space Weather Now page is intended to give the non-technical user a “plain language” look at space weather. After the page is loaded it refreshes every 5 minutes. The following is a brief description of each section on the page.

Events and Announcements - Listing of Events and Announcements of interest.

SXI Solar X-ray Imager - The latest 3-second, open wavelength image is shown. If the thumbnail is clicked from the Space Weather Now page, a larger version is displayed with several parameters. These parameters are explained at DataAndSoftware.html. The time beneath the thumbnail image and the time on the larger version may differ by a few minutes.

NOAA Scales - The scales describe the environmental disturbances for three event types: geomagnetic storms, solar radiation storms, and radio blackouts. The scales have numbered levels, analogous to hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes that convey severity. They list possible effects at each level. They also show how often such events happen, and give a measure of the intensity of the physical causes.

Maximum in past 24-hours - These are the highest values over the last 24-hours for Geomagnetic Storms; planetary K-values for the last 8 3-hourly periods. Solar Radiation Storms; average 5-minute protons at >10 MeV from primary GOES satellite. Radio Blackouts; X-ray 1-minute values from primary GOES satellite.

Currently - Geomagnetic Storms (latest 3-hour K-value), Solar Radiation Storms (averaged 5-minute proton value), and Radio Blackouts (x-ray 1-minute value) current values.

Real-time Solar Wind pages - Solar wind values collected by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE). Data is averaged over the last 15-minutes for the values. The latest dial display can be linked to at : http://www.sec.noaa.gov/SWN/sw_dials.gif. Explanation

Auroral Map - The plots on this page show the current extent and position of the auroral oval at each pole, extrapolated from measurements taken during the most recent polar pass of the NOAA POES satellite.

Today’s Space Weather - A look at space weather for the more technical user. This page has the latest full-disk image, the 3-day Solar-Geophysical Forecast, Solar X-ray Flux plot, Satellite Environment Plot, and more information.

D-region Absorption - Long range communications using high frequency (HF) radio waves (3-30 MHz) depend on reflection of the signals in the ionosphere.

Solar Image References - Link to additional descriptions and sources of solar images

Latest Alert - Updated hourly and as Alerts, Warnings, or Watches are issued.

Last Advisory Bulletin - Updated as a Space Weather Bulletin is issued. The file contains back bulletins for the last 8 months.

Solar Cycle 23 Progression - A plot indicating the progression of the current solar cycle. These are updated at the first of each month.

Today’s Theme - A variety of short subject themes about space weather, products, services, or projects. They change each day and rotate through the provided list of themes.

USER Groups - Links to specific pages of importance to the various user categories served by SEC.

Mar 03, 2004 -- Back to main SWN page