GONG Project Presence at the 2026 Space Weather Workshop

The GONG Project presented a series of four coordinated posters at the recent 2026 Space Weather Workshop in Boulder, CO. The series of posters was introduced by an overall GONG Project Overview, followed by three supporting posters highlighting GONG Science, GONG Data, and GONG Operations.

A number of NISP staff members attended the workshop to present the posters. Workshop attendees were very receptive of this comprehensive presentation, and a number of  interesting conversations were had.

• "GONG: A Global Ground-Based Network for Continuous Solar Observations" by A. Pevtsov et al.
• "The Continuing Role of Scientists in Sustaining the GONG Project" by S. Tripathy et al.
• "GONG Solar Data Collection, Processing, and Distribution" by O. Burtseva et al.
• "GONG Operations and Engineering Support" by G. Card et al.

GONG/ML Site Update

Site Access:

The Mauna Loa Observatory remains closed to the general public. Since the site will be an active construction zone for the next two years, NOAA staff are tightly scheduling site access for mission-critical activities only to ensure personnel safety. All visitors require explicit authorization to access the site.

Site Power and Construction Update:

NOAA does not have a date for commercial power restoration, but is actively engaging with local utility provider, HELCO. Concurent to HELCO repairing power lines and poles, site power and network infrastructure upgrades will be occuring at MLO.  GML will provide updated timelines for restoring power back to campus buildings when an updated construction schedule is available - full power restoration is likely several months after HELCO repairs the grid.

The components for the new 40m high sampling tower arrived onsite at MLO. GML will be reaching out to partners impacted by the tower replacement, and will provide a timeline for the installation when available.

GONG data processing update

 Processing of the network-merged daily velocity and magnetogram images,  p-mode-coefficient time series, and ring-diagram analysis products for GONG month 312,  and  the  p-mode frequency data products for central GONG month 311 is completed and the data products are now available.

Solar Activity Report: April 27 - May 3, 2026

Solar activity during the reporting week remained generally low, with X‑ray flux staying within the low C‑class range aside from a few high‑C and low M‑class events. Activity briefly rose to moderate levels on the first two days: an M1.0 flare from active region 11425 on April 27, followed by three low M‑class flares and several high C‑class flares, including C8.1, C9.0, and C9.3, from the active region 11420 on April 28. Consequently, April 28 was the most active day of the week, and the strongest event was an M1.5 flare from active region 11420. This region also produced a C7.4 flare on May 1 and a C8.7 flare on May 2. No significant Earth‑directed CMEs were detected in coronagraph observations.

The latest helioseismic far‑side map suggests that a moderate to strong active region may rotate onto the north‑east limb around May 9.

Poster presentations by NISP personnel at the 2026 Space Weather meeting in Boulder, CO.

The 2026 Space Weather meeting took place in Boulder, Colorado on 28 April- 1 May, 2026. NISP personnel presented several posters during this meeting relevant to Space Weather research and operational forecast. The presentations included: 

• "VSO 2.0 and Space Weather" by N. Oien et al
• "Full-disk Hα Spectroheliograph development for GONG: Preliminary results" by S. Gosain et al.
• "Limb-Flare Prediction (and...beyond-limb flare prediction) with a 4π Full-Heliosphere Forecasting Framework" by K.D. Leka et al.
• "Polarity-Resolved Magnetograms Derived from GONG Far-Side Helioseismic Maps for Space Weather Applications" by Hamada, A. et al.

More poster references will be added later. 

Solar Activity Report: April 20 -26, 2026

Solar activity ranged from very low to high levels during the reporting period. Activity was very low at the start of the week, with X‑ray flux in the mid‑B-class range, before increasing to the upper B‑class level accompanied by frequent low‑ to mid‑C‑class flares. By early April 23, activity rose sharply, producing four M‑class flares that day. Activity intensified further on April 24 with two X‑class flares (X2.5 and X2.4) and two additional M‑class flares. Finally, the solar activity subsided on April 25 and continued with the similar conditions on April 26, although the X‑ray flux remained in the C‑class range with a few M‑class events. These flares were associated with CMEs, however, none of which had Earth‑directed components.

GONG UD is back on-line

 GONG station in Udaipur, India is back to operations.  NISP team worked with the site support group in India to run series of tests, which identified a failed electronic board. The board was replaced by a spare, and the system's operability was restored. The images error was cleared, and the PM (preventive maintenance) flag is turned off.  H-alpha image of the Sun taken after the repairs is shown below.