Monthly Sunspot Numbers

(last updated 06 Dec 2015 22:12 UT)

OBSERVED AND PREDICTED SOLAR INDICES Prepared by Bureau of Meteorology Space Weather Services Issued on 01 December 2015 -------------------------- SMOOTHED SUNSPOT NUMBER -------------------------- Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2000 113.0 116.9 120.0 120.9 119.0 118.8 119.8 118.7 116.3 114.5 112.7 112.1 2001 108.7 104.0 104.8 107.5 108.6 109.8 111.7 113.6 114.1 114.0 115.5 114.6 2002 113.5 114.6 113.3 110.5 108.8 106.2 102.7 98.7 94.6 90.5 85.3 82.1 2003 81.0 78.6 74.2 70.4 67.9 65.3 62.1 60.3 59.8 58.4 57.0 55.0 2004 52.1 49.4 47.2 45.6 43.9 41.7 40.2 39.3 37.6 35.9 35.4 35.2 2005 34.6 34.0 33.6 31.7 28.9 28.8 29.1 27.5 25.9 25.6 25.0 23.0 2006 20.8 18.7 17.4 17.1 17.4 16.4 15.3 15.6 15.6 14.2 12.7 12.1 2007 12.0 11.6 10.8 9.9 8.7 7.7 7.0 6.1 5.9 6.1 5.7 5.0 2008 4.2 3.6 3.3 3.3 3.5 3.2 2.7 2.6 2.2 1.8 1.7 1.7 2009 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.2 2.3 2.7 3.6 4.8 6.1 7.0 7.5 8.2 2010 9.2 10.6 12.3 13.9 15.4 16.3 16.7 17.4 19.6 23.2 26.5 28.9 2011 31.0 33.5 36.9 41.8 47.6 53.2 57.3 59.1 59.6 59.9 61.1 63.4 2012 65.5 66.9 66.8 64.6 61.7 58.9 57.8 58.2 58.1 58.6 59.7 59.6 2013 58.7 58.4 57.5 57.8 59.8 62.6 65.4 68.9 73.1 75.0 75.4 76.0 2014 77.4 78.4 80.9 82.0 80.6 79.8 78.7 75.6 71.0 67.5 65.5 64.7 2015 64.3 63.7 62.9 62.5 62.3 61.4e 60.5e 61.0e 62.4e 63.3e 63.2e 62.4e 2016 61.0e 59.6e 57.6e 55.7e 54.2e 52.1 49.8 48.2 47.1 45.7 44.1 42.4 2017 40.8 39.1 37.5 36.5 35.5 34.6 33.6 32.5 31.3 30.1 28.9 27.6 2018 25.9 24.7 23.7 22.8 22.0 21.0 20.1 19.2 18.7 18.2 17.7 17.5 2019 17.0 16.6 16.0 15.2 14.5 13.9 13.3 12.6 11.8 11.1 10.4 9.9 ============================================================================= -------------------- EQUIVALENT 10.7 CM SOLAR RADIO FLUX -------------------- Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2000 162.2 166.2 169.4 170.3 168.3 168.1 169.2 168.0 165.6 163.7 161.9 161.3 2001 157.8 153.0 153.8 156.5 157.7 158.9 160.9 162.8 163.3 163.2 164.7 163.8 2002 162.7 163.8 162.5 159.6 157.9 155.2 151.6 147.6 143.4 139.3 134.1 131.0 2003 129.9 127.6 123.3 119.7 117.4 115.0 112.0 110.4 109.9 108.7 107.4 105.7 2004 103.1 100.8 99.0 97.6 96.2 94.4 93.2 92.5 91.2 89.9 89.5 89.3 2005 88.9 88.4 88.1 86.7 84.6 84.6 84.8 83.6 82.5 82.3 81.9 80.5 2006 79.0 77.7 76.8 76.6 76.8 76.2 75.5 75.7 75.7 74.8 73.9 73.6 2007 73.5 73.3 72.8 72.3 71.6 71.0 70.6 70.1 70.0 70.1 69.9 69.6 2008 69.1 68.8 68.7 68.7 68.8 68.6 68.3 68.3 68.1 67.9 67.8 67.8 2009 67.9 67.9 68.0 68.1 68.1 68.3 68.8 69.4 70.1 70.6 70.9 71.3 2010 71.9 72.7 73.7 74.6 75.6 76.1 76.4 76.8 78.2 80.6 82.9 84.6 2011 86.2 88.0 90.7 94.5 99.3 104.1 107.7 109.3 109.8 110.0 111.1 113.2 2012 115.1 116.4 116.3 114.3 111.7 109.1 108.1 108.5 108.4 108.9 109.8 109.8 2013 108.9 108.7 107.9 108.1 109.9 112.5 115.0 118.3 122.3 124.1 124.5 125.1 2014 126.4 127.4 129.8 130.9 129.5 128.7 127.7 124.7 120.3 117.0 115.1 114.4 2015 114.0 113.5 112.7 112.4 112.2 111.4e110.6e111.0e112.3e113.1e113.0e112.3e 2016 111.0e109.8e108.0e106.3e105.0e103.1 101.2 99.8 98.9 97.7 96.4 95.0 2017 93.7 92.4 91.1 90.3 89.6 88.9 88.1 87.3 86.4 85.5 84.6 83.7 2018 82.5 81.7 81.0 80.4 79.8 79.2 78.6 78.0 77.7 77.3 77.0 76.9 2019 76.6 76.3 75.9 75.4 75.0 74.6 74.3 73.9 73.4 73.0 72.6 72.3 ============================================================================= These tables are based on the observed monthly mean sunspot numbers from SILSO, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels (sidc.oma.be/silso/home). The observed values are smoothed using a 13 month running filter (the first and last values have half weighting). Estimated values have an "e" suffix and are calculated from observed monthly and predicted smoothed sunspot numbers. Observed smoothed values precede the estimated values while predicted smoothed values follow the estimated values. The 10.7 cm solar radio flux values, including the "observed" values, are obtained from sunspot numbers using a statistical conversion. They are therefore described as "equivalent" solar radio flux values. =============================================================================

(last updated 06 Dec 2015 21:53 UT)

OBSERVED MONTHLY SUNSPOT NUMBERS 1996 11.5 4.4 9.2 4.8 5.5 11.8 8.2 14.4 1.6 0.9 17.9 13.3 1997 5.7 7.6 8.7 15.5 18.5 12.7 10.4 24.4 51.3 22.8 39.0 41.2 1998 31.9 40.3 54.8 53.4 56.3 70.7 66.6 92.2 92.9 55.5 74.0 81.9 1999 62.0 66.3 68.8 63.7 106.4 137.7 113.5 93.7 71.5 116.7 133.2 84.6 2000 90.1 112.9 138.5 125.5 121.6 125.5 170.1 130.5 109.7 99.4 106.8 104.4 2001 95.6 80.6 113.5 107.7 96.6 134.0 81.8 106.4 150.7 125.5 106.5 132.2 2002 114.1 107.4 98.4 120.7 120.8 88.3 99.6 116.4 109.6 97.5 95.0 81.6 2003 79.5 46.2 61.5 60.0 55.2 77.4 85.0 72.7 48.8 65.6 67.2 47.0 2004 37.2 46.0 48.9 39.3 41.5 43.2 51.0 40.9 27.7 48.4 43.7 17.9 2005 31.3 29.2 24.5 24.4 42.6 39.6 39.9 36.4 22.1 8.5 18.0 41.2 2006 15.4 5.0 10.8 30.2 22.2 13.9 12.2 12.9 14.5 10.4 21.5 13.6 2007 16.9 10.6 4.8 3.7 11.7 12.0 10.0 6.2 2.4 0.9 1.7 10.1 2008 3.4 2.1 9.3 2.9 2.9 3.1 0.5 0.5 1.1 2.9 4.1 0.8 2009 1.5 1.4 0.7 1.2 2.9 2.6 3.5 0.0 4.2 4.6 4.2 10.6 2010 13.1 18.6 15.4 7.9 8.8 13.5 16.1 19.6 25.2 23.5 21.6 14.5 2011 19.0 29.4 56.2 54.4 41.6 37.0 43.9 50.6 78.0 88.0 96.7 73.0 2012 58.3 33.1 64.2 55.2 69.0 64.5 66.5 63.1 61.5 53.3 61.4 40.8 2013 62.9 38.0 57.9 72.4 78.7 52.5 57.0 66.0 36.9 85.6 77.6 90.3 2014 82.0 102.8 92.2 84.7 75.2 71.0 72.5 74.7 87.6 60.6 70.1 78.0 2015 67.0 44.8 38.4 54.4 58.8 68.3 66.4 64.6 78.1 61.7 63.2

Although the prediction of solar cycles is difficult, it has practical applications. For example, in planning High Frequency (HF) communication links it is important to estimate what frequencies will be supported by the ionosphere well into the future. Predictions of sunspot number are also very important in planning space-related activities particularly for low Earth orbiting spacecraft.

Subscribe to the Bureau of Meteorology SWS solar indices mailing list to receive monthly updates of the observed and predicted smoothed sunspot numbers.

Below is a graph of the current solar cycle: observed monthly sunspot number (yellow), observed smoothed monthly sunspot number (red) and predicted smoothed monthly sunspot number (blue). Graphs of previous solar cycles can be found here.

(last updated 02 Dec 2015 01:43 UT)

SOLAR CYCLE FORECAST ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cycle Solar_Min Solar_Max Max_SSN Cycle_Length Min_to_Max Max_to_Min Year Mth Year Mth Years Mths Years Mths Years Mths ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 2008 Dec 2014 Apr 82.0 11.6 139 5.3 64 6.2 75

A solar cycle viewing tool (zip file) is available for FTP download.