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The table below shows the values that both the finalized Kp-index and the Wing Kp-index work with. Air Force Weather Agency Wing Kp model also uses this scale with 28 values but support for this model was discontinued in June 2018 by the NOAA SWPC and it can no longer be found on our website. Unlike the preliminary Kp-index, the finalized Kp data is expressed in a scale of thirds and has 28 values were the preliminary Kp-index only has 10 values. The finalized Kp-index is slightly different then the preliminary Kp-index.
#Weather aurora il archive#
These are the official, finalized Kp-values for scientific research and archive purposes. The finalized Kp-index comes from the GFZ in Potsdam, Germany and is updated twice a month. It is updated after every 3-hour period with the most recent reported Kp-value or during times of high auroral activity it is updated at the same time as the NOAA SWPC issues an alert that a certain threshold has been reached. The Kp-index gauge on the front page of this website uses the Estimated Planetary K-index which is provided by the NOAA SWPC. Also indicated which G-scale a certain Kp-value represents, the approximate boundary of the auroral oval at local midnight for a specific Kp-value, a description of the auroral activity for a specific Kp-value and a rogue estimate on how often a certain Kp-value occurs during one solar cycle. The table below shows you the values used by The Estimated 3-hour Planetary Kp-index ranging from Kp=0 to Kp=9. The image below shows a plot of the Estimated 3-hour Planetary Kp-index from October 2003 with 3 days of intense geomagnetic storming. During periods with high geomagnetic activity, the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center will send out alerts based on this near-real time minute by minute data as soon as a certain alert threshold (Kp4 or higher) has been reached.
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These maximum deviations may occur anytime during the 3-hour period. The maximum positive and negative deviations during the 3-hour period are added together to determine the total maximum fluctuation. The Estimated 3-hour Planetary Kp-index gives us a quick indication of the strongest observed geomagnetic activity over a 3-hour period. These observatories are located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. The Estimated 3-hour Planetary Kp-index is a preliminary Kp-index derived at the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center using minute by minute data from a number of ground-based magnetometers that relay data in near-real time. The Kp-index ranges from 0 to 9 where a value of 0 means that there is very little geomagnetic activity and a value of 9 means extreme geomagnetic storming. The global Kp-index is then determined with an algorithm that puts the reported K-values of every station together. A magnetometer measures the maximum deviation of the horizontal component of the magnetic field at its location and reports this. The K-index itself is a three hour long quasi-logarithmic local index of the geomagnetic activity at the given location and time compared to a calm day curve.
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Each station is calibrated according to its latitude and reports a certain K-indice depending on the geomagnetic activity measured at the location of the magnetometer. The Kp-index is the global geomagnetic activity index that is based on 3-hour measurements from ground-based magnetometers around the world.