Simultaneous observations of MHD hot flow anomaly and kinetic foreshock bubble and their impacts

Hot flow anomalies (HFAs) and foreshock bubbles (FBs) are two types of transient phenomena characterized by flow deflected and hot cores bounded by one or two compressional boundaries in the foreshock. Using conjunction observations by the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission, we present an MHD HFA with a core filled with magnetosheath material around the bow shock and a typical kinetic FB associated with foreshock ions upstream of the bow shock, occurring simultaneously under the same solar wind/interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions. The displacements of the bow shock moving back and forth along the sun-earth line are observed. Electron energy shows enhancements from ∼50 keV in the FB to ∼100 keV in the HFA core, suggesting additional acceleration process across the bow shock within the transient structure. The magnetosheath response of an HFA core-like structure with particle heating and electron acceleration is observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. Ultralow frequency waves in the magnetosphere modulating cold ion energy are identified by THEMIS, driven by these transient structures. Our study improves our understanding of foreshock transients and suggests that single spacecraft observations are insufficient to reveal the whole picture of foreshock transients, leading to an underestimation of their impacts (e.g., particle acceleration energy and spatial scale of disturbances).

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Publication Details

Journal
Frontiers in Physics
Published
2025-01-10
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphy.2024.1503092
Primary Topic
Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Simultaneous observations of MHD hot flow anomaly and kinetic foreshock bubble and their impacts

A. Otto, Terry Z. Liu, Xi Lu, Xingran Chen et al.
Frontiers in Physics
Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
article

Simultaneous observations of MHD hot flow anomaly and kinetic foreshock bubble and their impacts

A. Otto, Terry Z. Liu, Xi Lu, Xingran Chen, Hui Zhang
article en

Abstract

Hot flow anomalies (HFAs) and foreshock bubbles (FBs) are two types of transient phenomena characterized by flow deflected and hot cores bounded by one or two compressional boundaries in the foreshock. Using conjunction observations by the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission, we present an MHD HFA with a core filled with magnetosheath material around the bow shock and a typical kinetic FB associated with foreshock ions upstream of the bow shock, occurring simultaneously under the same solar wind/interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions. The displacements of the bow shock moving back and forth along the sun-earth line are observed. Electron energy shows enhancements from ∼50 keV in the FB to ∼100 keV in the HFA core, suggesting additional acceleration process across the bow shock within the transient structure. The magnetosheath response of an HFA core-like structure with particle heating and electron acceleration is observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. Ultralow frequency waves in the magnetosphere modulating cold ion energy are identified by THEMIS, driven by these transient structures. Our study improves our understanding of foreshock transients and suggests that single spacecraft observations are insufficient to reveal the whole picture of foreshock transients, leading to an underestimation of their impacts (e.g., particle acceleration energy and spatial scale of disturbances).

Frontiers in PhysicsVol. 12
Planetary Science Institute (US), University of Alaska Fairbanks (US), University of California, Los Angeles (US), The University of Texas at Dallas (US)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, University of Alaska Fairbanks, UC Berkeley College of Chemistry
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 100%
Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
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