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Plasma flows with enhanced dynamic pressure, known as magnetosheath jets, are often found downstream of collisionless shocks. As they propagate through the magnetosheath, they interact with the surrounding plasma, shaping its properties, and potentially becoming geoeffective upon reaching the magnetopause. In recent years (since 2016), new research has produced vital results that have significantly enhanced our understanding on many aspects of jets. In this review, we summarise and discuss these findings. Spacecraft and ground-based observations, as well as global and local simulations, have contributed greatly to our understanding of the causes and effects of magnetosheath jets. First, we discuss recent findings on jet occurrence and formation, including in other planetary environments. New insights into jet properties and evolution are then examined using observations and simulations. Finally, we review the impact of jets upon interaction with the magnetopause and subsequent consequences for the magnetosphere-ionosphere system. We conclude with an outlook and assessment on future challenges. This includes an overview on future space missions that may prove crucial in tackling the outstanding open questions on jets in the terrestrial magnetosheath as well as other planetary and shock environments.

Context. Dynamic pressure enhancements, known as magnetosheath jets, are plasma structures with a higher dynamic pressure than the surrounding plasma. They have been thoroughly studied at Earth and recently discovered around other planetary bodies. However, studies on jets outside of the terrestrial magnetosheath have only been performed as case studies.

Aims. We present the first statistical study of jets in the Martian plasma environment. Methods. Our database was assembled using ten years of Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission data sampling various regions in the Martian plasma environment.

Results. Our database contains 82 645 jets, which have an average dynamic pressure increase of a factor of 2.34. The majority of jets are observed close to the bow shock in the magnetosheath. Most jets are driven by a combination of velocity and density enhancement, although the distribution is skewed toward density enhancement, as compared to jets at Earth. The jets are often colder than their background. The median scale size of Martian jets is 0.67 R_M.

Conclusions. Jets in the Martian plasma environment are similar to jets observed in the terrestrial magnetosheath, however, there are some differences. In Martian jets, the density enhancement dominates over the velocity; whereas in terrestrial jets, the velocity enhancement dominates over the density enhancement. Furthermore, jets are more deflected compared to the surrounding magnetosheath plasma. Martian jets are likely to be smaller than terrestrial jets, but they are larger relative to the scale size of the magnetosphere.

Magnetosheath jets, transient plasma structures of enhanced dynamic pressure, have been observed to trigger ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves in the magnetosphere. These ULF waves contribute to energy transport in the magnetosphere-ionosphere system. Therefore, there is a need to estimate the energy input into the ionosphere due to jet-triggered ULF waves. In this study, we combine measurements from Magnetospheric Multiscale, ground-based magnetometers, the EISCAT radar on Svalbard, and SuperDARN to estimate the Joule heating in the ionosphere resulting from jet impacts at the magnetopause. Focusing on three jets observed on 2016-01-07 we were able to calculate the Joule heating for two jets. We found an average Joule heating rate of (Formula presented.) mW/m2 which is on par with other processes such as field line resonances. However, due to the short duration and spatial confinement of the jet-induced ULF waves, the average energy input was only (Formula presented.) J. This suggests that the energy deposition of jet-triggered ULF waves is small compared to other magnetospheric processes, and thus does not significantly impact the average energy budget of the magnetosphere.

Shock-generated transients, such as hot flow anomalies (HFAs), upstream of planetary bow shocks, play a critical role in electron acceleration. Using multimission data from NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale and ESA’s Cluster missions, we demonstrate the transmission of HFAs through Earth’s quasi-parallel bow shock, accelerating electrons to relativistic energies in the process. Energetic electrons initially accelerated upstream are shown to remain broadly confined within the transmitted transient structures downstream, where they get further energized due to the elevated compression levels potentially by betatron acceleration. Additionally, high-speed jets form at the compressive edges of HFAs, exhibiting a significant increase in dynamic pressure and potentially contributing to further localized compression. Our findings emphasize the efficiency of quasi-parallel shocks in driving particle acceleration far beyond the immediate shock transition region, expanding the acceleration region to a larger spatial domain. Finally, this study underscores the importance of a multiscale observational approach in understanding the convoluted processes behind collisionless shock physics and their broader implications.

Magnetosheath jets, plasma structures with enhanced dynamic pressure, are frequently observed in the terrestrial magnetosheath. However, their mass, momentum, and energy content are still unknown. We utilize Amitis, a 3D hybrid-kinetic plasma simulation, to study the mass, momentum, and energy content of jets in the subsolar magnetosheath. We also analyze the kinetic, thermal, and electromagnetic energy flux associated with jets. Jets comprise up to 21% of the quasi-parallel magnetosheath and can carry up to half of the kinetic energy. Furthermore, jets convert kinetic energy to thermal energy. Our hybrid simulations also suggest that while jets can form downstream of the quasi-perpendicular shock, their volume and energy content are much small compared to jets downstream of the quasi-parallel bow shock. We conclude that magnetosheath jets play a vital role in heating up the magnetosheath and significantly influence the dynamics of the quasi-parallel magnetosheath.

The bow shock current (BSC) plays an important role in supplying the magnetosphere with solar wind energy, in particular during times of low solar wind magnetosonic Mach numbers. Since the magnetic pile-up in the magnetosheath has to be maintained, the BSC cannot close locally, but must instead connect to magnetospheric current systems. However, the details of this closure remain poorly understood. For east–west interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) it has been hypothesized that the BSC partly closes to the high-latitude ionosphere, as field-aligned currents (FACs) on open field lines, but there is still no statistical evidence of this. In order to investigate this hypothesis, we use 9 years of Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) data to construct normalized FAC maps of the northern hemisphere polar cap. We sort them according to different IMF clock angles, IMF magnitudes and magnetosonic Mach numbers. By separating opposite polarity FACs, we show that, on average, a unipolar FAC exists in the dayside polar cap when the IMF (Formula presented.), regardless of the sign of the IMF (Formula presented.). This current flows out of (into) the ionosphere in the northern hemisphere for IMF (Formula presented.) (Formula presented.) and is thus of the correct polarity to connect to the north–south component of the BSC. Moreover, it is strongest when the BSC flows predominantly in the north–south direction. These results constitute the first statistical evidence in support of at least a partial closure of the BSC to the ionosphere during non-zero IMF (Formula presented.).

Induced magnetospheres form around planetary bodies with atmospheres through the interaction of the solar wind with their ionosphere. Induced magnetospheres are highly dependent on the solar wind conditions and have only been studied with single spacecraft missions in the past. Without simultaneous measurements of solar wind variations and phenomena in the magnetosphere, establishing a link between both can only be done indirectly, using statistics over a large set of measurements. This gap in knowledge could be addressed by a multi-spacecraft plasma mission, optimized for studying global spatial and temporal variations in the magnetospheric system around Venus, which hosts the most prominent example of an induced magnetosphere in our solar system. The MVSE mission comprises four satellites, of which three are identical scientific spacecraft, carrying the same suite of instruments probing different regions of the induced magnetosphere and the solar wind simultaneously. The fourth spacecraft is the transfer vehicle which acts as a relay satellite for communications at Venus. In this way, changes in the solar wind conditions and extreme solar events can be observed, and their effects can be quantified as they propagate through the Venusian induced magnetosphere. Additionally, energy transfer in the Venusian induced magnetosphere can be investigated. The scientific payload includes instrumentation to measure the magnetic field, electric field, and ion–electron velocity distributions. This study presents the scientific motivation for the mission as well as requirements and the resulting mission design. Concretely, a mission timeline along with a complete spacecraft design, including mass, power, communication, propulsion and thermal budgets are given. This mission was initially conceived at the Alpbach Summer School 2022 and refined during a week-long study at ESA's Concurrent Design Facility in Redu, Belgium.

Magnetosheath jets represent localized enhancements in dynamic pressure observed within the magnetosheath. These energetic entities, carrying excess energy and momentum, can impact the magnetopause and disrupt the magnetosphere. Therefore, they play a vital role in coupling the solar wind and terrestrial magnetosphere. However, our understanding of the morphology and formation of these complex, transient events remains incomplete over two decades after their initial observation. Previous studies have relied on oversimplified assumptions, considering jets as elongated cylinders with dimensions ranging from $0.1\, R_{\rm E}$ to $5\, R_{\rm E}$ (Earth radii). In this study, we present simulation results obtained from Amitis, a high-performance hybrid-kinetic plasma framework (particle ions and fluid electrons) running in parallel on graphics processing units (GPUs) for fast and more environmentally friendly computation compared to CPU-based models. Considering realistic scales, we present the first global, three-dimensional (3D in both configuration and velocity spaces) hybrid-kinetic simulation results of the interaction between solar wind plasma and the Earth. Our high-resolution kinetic simulations reveal the 3D structure of magnetosheath jets, showing that jets are far from being simple cylinders. Instead, they exhibit intricate and highly interconnected structures with dynamic 3D characteristics. As they move through the magnetosheath, they wrinkle, fold, merge, and split in complex ways before a subset reaches the magnetopause.

We statistically investigate convective earthward fast flows using data measured by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission in the tail plasma sheet during 2017–2021. We focus on “frozen in” fast flows and investigate the importance of different electric field components in the Sun-Earth (V⊥x) and dusk-dawn (V⊥y) velocity components perpendicular to the magnetic field. We find that a majority of the fast flow events (52% of 429) have the north-south electric field component (Ez) as the most relevant or dominating component whereas 26% are so-called conventional type fast flows with Ey and Ex as the relevant components. The rest of the flow events, 22%, fall into the two ’mixed’ categories, of which almost all these fast flows, 20% of 429, have Ey and Ez important for V⊥x and V⊥y, respectively. There is no Y-location preference for any type of the fast flows. The conventional fast flows are detected rather close to the neutral sheet whereas the other types can be measured farther away. Typical total speeds are highest in the mixed category. Typical perpendicular speeds are comparably high in the conventional and mixed categories. The slowest fast flows are measured in the Ez category. Most of the fast flow events are measured in the substorm recovery phase. Prevailing interplanetary magnetic field By conditions influence the V⊥y direction and the influence is most efficient for the Ez-dominated fast flows.

Plasma entities, known as magnetosheath jets, with higher dynamic pressure than the surrounding plasma, are often seen at Earth. They generate waves and contribute to energy transfer in the magnetosheath. Affecting the magnetopause, they cause surface waves and transfer energy into the magnetosphere, causing throat auroras and magnetic signatures detectable on the ground. We show that jets exist also beyond Earth's environment in the magnetosheath of Mars, using data obtained by the MAVEN spacecraft. Thus, jets can be created also at Mars, which differs from Earth by its smaller bow shock, and they are associated with an increased level of magnetic field fluctuations. Jets couple large and small scales in magnetosheaths in the solar system and can play a similar part in astrophysical plasmas.