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Solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are the main drivers of the most powerful non-recurrent geomagnetic storms. In the extreme-ultraviolet range, CMEs are accompanied by bright post-eruption arcades and dark dimmings. The analysis of events of Solar Cycle 23 (Chertok et al. in Solar Phys. 282, 175, 2013) revealed that the summarized unsigned magnetic flux in the arcades and dimming regions at the photospheric level, , is significantly related to the intensity (Dst index) of geomagnetic storms. This provides the basis for the earliest diagnostics of geoefficiency of solar eruptions. In the present article, using the same data set, we find that a noticeable correlation also exists between the eruptive magnetic flux, , and another geomagnetic index, Ap. As the magnetic flux increases from some tens to ≈ 500 (in units of 10 20 Mx), the geomagnetic storm intensity measured by the three-hour Ap index increases on average from Ap ≈ 50 to a formal upper limit of 400 (in units of 2 nT). The established relationship shows that the real value of the Ap index is not limited and during the most severe magnetic storms may significantly exceed 400.

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