W4/VP9KF - SolMon - Solar Activity

Option 1
You could do this the super-simple way - no code at all, by using http://www.n3kl.org/sun/images/status.gif? and http://www.n3kl.org/sun/images/kpstatus.gif? or the code given at his page http://www.n3kl.org/sun/status.html - however, this relies on his server taking the load every time somebody "hits" your page.

Option 2
Use wget in your cron file to fetch these images every 15 minutes or so. This lowers the workload on his server (well, it's constant and a known hit rate) and will give your site faster rendering. Example:

1,16,31,46 * * * * /usr/local/bin/wget --timeout=12 http://www.n3kl.org/sun/images/kpstatus.gif -q -O $YOURDIR/sun/kpstatus.gif; /usr/local/bin/wget --timeout=12 http://www.n3kl.org/sun/images/status.gif -q -O $YOURDIR/sun/status.gif

[where $YOURDIR is the variable set to your chosen directory which was set at the beginning of your cron file]
Caution! Cron and command syntax varies between *NIX versions - the above is from FreeBSD.

Option 3

Flare data latency added
Neutron detector processing added
RELEASED CODE! SolMon v1.3 Last Updated: 2012-12-04 14:29:25Z

The Space Weather Prediction Center provided solar data to WWV & WWVH as an early "universal" way to broadcast the data to anybody with a shortwave receiver. With use of the internet to send a broader data set, the spoken "WWV" messages will cease on 1st September, 2011. So, will all those files referring to "wwv" in their name change to "swpc"?
Update - No need to worry, they asked for comments by 2011-06-30, yet they relented under pressure before that date.
Read this (undated) "press release" on the matter. However, are they going to change the text file format? It seems so, if they change the spoken data. Anybody providing code which extracts the solar data from this source needs to keep an eye on news from the SWPC on this matter.

NOTE: The Boulder K-index is the real-time proxy for the Planetary K (Kp) values that define the Geomagnetic Storm (G-scale) on the NOAA Space Weather Scales. Kp is not available in real time and is usually delayed by approximately 30 minutes. To enable the fastest possible alerts of Geomagnetic Storm activity, the Boulder K-index is used as a substitute, 1 minute behind real time. Kp and the Boulder K-index will generally show the same overall trend of activity. However, differences in the absolute magnitude of these indices can result in differences in the G-level (or K-index) reached. These differences are generally restricted to plus or minus one G or K-level, although larger deviations are infrequently observed. Through partnership with the US Geological Survey, SWPC is working to eliminate the need for a Planetary K proxy by deriving an estimated Planetary K in real time. Real-time derivation of the Planetary K is anticipated by October 1, 2011. Products that currently use the Boulder K as a proxy will be transitioned to Planetary K at that time.

Use the following code (and graphics) that's written here.
Place the following in your cron file:

*/15 * * * * /usr/bin/fetch -q -A -T 10 -o $YOURDIR/sun/wwv.txt 'http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/latest/wwv.txt'; /usr/bin/fetch -q -A -T 10 -o $YOURDIR/sun/dsd.txt 'http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/latest/DSD.txt'; /usr/bin/fetch -q -A -T 10 -o $YOURDIR/sun/xray.txt 'http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/lists/xray/Gp_xr_5m.txt'; /usr/bin/fetch -q -A -T 10 -o $YOURDIR/sun/particles.txt 'http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/lists/particle/Gp_part_5m.txt'; $PHP $YOURDIR/sun/wwv.php > dev/null; $PHP $YOURDIR/sun/wwv_rss.php > dev/null

[where $YOURDIR is the variable set to your chosen directory and $PHP is set to the path of your install of PHP, which were set at the beginning of your cron file]. wwv.php and wwv_rss.php extract the data to make WWV figure text file (for embedding in a web page) and to make an RSS feed. Right out of the box.

Brief respite. Here are the graphic files you'll need for the Solar Status system.
Note they contain lowercase and borders to distinguish them from the N3KL graphics.
However, they are 121 x 21 pixels so that they can directly replace existing N3KL page images.

Level	K-Index
0-1
2
3
4
5
6-9

Level W/m²	X-Ray
I = -1 x 10⁵
I < 10^-9
10^-9 <= I < 10^-8
10^-8 <= I < 10^-7
10^-7 <= I < 10^-6
10^-6 <= I < 10^-5
10^-5 <= I < 10^-4
10^-4 <= I < 10^-3
10^-3<= I

Level cm^-2 s^-1 sr^-1	Proton
I = -1 x 10⁵
I < 1
1 <= I < 10
10 <= I < 10²
10² <= I < 10³
10³ <= I

Neutron monitor

Level cm^-2 s^-1 sr^-1	Neutron
I = -1 x 10⁵
I < 1
10 <= I < 10²
10² <= I < 10³
10³ <= I

To download all of the files at once, do the following in Firefox: Right click within this page. Select View Page Info. Select the Media tab/button. Select all of the propagation image files and press Save As. Save them to a ./sun directory on your local machine.

"WWV/DSD" code: Download this file wwv_php2.txt and rename to wwv.php.
K-Index graphic-changing working correctly.
X-Ray logic and graphic-changing working correctly.
Data recovery and calculation for X-Ray flux working correctly (scaling issues?).

RSS code: Download this file wwv_rss2_php.txt and rename to wwv_rss.php. This code requires the file latest_wwv.txt to have been previously made by the running of wwv2.php (renamed to wwv.php). The output file wwv_rss.xml will be made. Insert the RSS graphic

into your web page and let it link to your new WWV feed. Also, if you want automatic feed discovery to occur when browsers go to your page add the following in your HTML <head> area:

<link href="http://[YOURDomain]/sun/wwv_rss.xml" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="WWV data">

FAQ
Q: Why do you record seconds in the logfile?
A: Because they're available - logs would be smaller without, but it also keeps a record of how long the data retrieval and processing took.
Q: When was the first release of the code?
A: 1st July 2011.
Q: How can I use the logged data?
A: There are no limitations on the data gathered, you may use it for plots.
Q: Are you looking for help?
A: Yes, if anybody has new ideas or improvements, they should contact me.

Released under GPLv3 Licence.