3-day Geomagnetic Indices

Estimated Kp Index (3-hour data)

Source NOAA/SWPC

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Estimated Australian Region Kaus Index (3-hour data)

Source ASWFC

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Northern Limit of Aurora Visibility

Kp	Geomagnetic Activity	Northern Limit	Northern Limit Location
3	Unsettled	High Latitudes	Southern Tasmania
4	Active	High Latitudes	All of Tasmania
5	Minor Storm	High Latitudes	Coastline of Victoria
6	Major Storm	High Latitudes	Southwest Coast of Western Australia
7	Severe Storm	Mid Latitudes	Southern NSW
8	Severe Storm	Low Latitudes	Southern Queensland
9	Severe Storm	Equatorial	The Tropics

Geomagnetic Indices

The K index is a measure of geomagnetic activity for a 3-hour period. The larger the K-index, the greater the chance of seeing an aurora at lower latitudes. The auroral oval prediction tool shows the predicted visibility line for a given K-index and time of day.

Space Weather API

The Space Weather API provides access to near real-time data from the Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre within the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

The API includes the following data relevant to auroras:

• the current K index for the Australian region or for one of the observing sites
• details of any magnetic alert current for the Australian region
• details of any geophysical warning currently active for the Australian region
• details of any aurora notice (alert, watch, outlook) current for the Australian region

Data is available at no charge, though this remains subject to change.