Magnetosheath jet properties and evolution as determined by a global hybrid-Vlasov simulation

Palmroth, Minna; Hietala, Heli; Plaschke, Ferdinand; Archer, Martin; Karlsson, Tomas; Blanco-Cano, Xóchitl; Sibeck, David; Kajdič, Primož; Ganse, Urs; Pfau-Kempf, Yann; Battarbee, Markus; Turc, Lucile

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-36-1171-2018

Articles | Volume 36, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-36-1171-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-36-1171-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 36, issue 5

Regular paper

|

07 Sep 2018

Regular paper |

| 07 Sep 2018

Magnetosheath jet properties and evolution as determined by a global hybrid-Vlasov simulation

Minna Palmroth, Heli Hietala, Ferdinand Plaschke, Martin Archer, Tomas Karlsson, Xóchitl Blanco-Cano, David Sibeck, Primož Kajdič, Urs Ganse, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Markus Battarbee, and Lucile Turc

Download

Final revised paper (published on 07 Sep 2018)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 08 Mar 2018)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

- Printer-friendly version

- Supplement

RC1: 'Comments for Palmroth et al. (angeo-2018-20)', Anonymous Referee #1, 15 Apr 2018
- AC1: 'Answers to the comments by Reviewer #1', Minna Palmroth, 09 May 2018
RC2: 'Referee Comment', Anonymous Referee #2, 20 Apr 2018
- AC2: 'Answers to the Reviewer #2', Minna Palmroth, 09 May 2018
SC1: 'Where is the physics in the manuscript?', Gabor Facsko, 27 Apr 2018
- AC3: 'Answer', Minna Palmroth, 09 May 2018
SC2: 'Comments for Blanco-Cano et al., Cavitons and spontaneous hot flow anomalies in a hybrid-Vlasov global magnetospheric simulation', Gabor Facsko, 28 Apr 2018

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (09 May 2018) by Christopher Mouikis

AR by Minna Palmroth on behalf of the Authors (13 Jun 2018) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (28 Jun 2018) by Christopher Mouikis

RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (16 Jul 2018)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

Summary: In my first review, my primary concern was that the manuscript did not do full justice to what is a very interesting and important simulation result. I suggested addressing two points, namely the details of the formation mechanism (and the evolution of the jet), and the impact of the jet on the magnetopause.

In the revised manuscript, the formation mechanism and evolution of the jet are now explored in detail. Figure 6 shows the change in size and shape of the jet, where there is an interesting transition towards the end of its life as it increases in tangential size and decreases in radial size. Figure 7 clearly shows how the profile that would be observed by a spacecraft changes with distance from the bow shock.

Movie S2 is a very valuable addition. One can see the yellow regions of high pressure in the upstream region, and how they impact the bow shock sometimes forming magnetosheath jets. This is neatly summarised in Figure 8. The connection to SLAMS is shown in Figure 9. There is possibly an important further conceptual comment to make here. The original picture of SLAMS saw them as propagating slower than the solar wind (being shock-like) and ultimately stopping at the average bow shock location, standing in the flow to make the shock front. This simulation reveals that SLAMS do not (always) stop at the shock – they can punch through forming magnetosheath jets. I think this adds to our understanding of how the quasi-parallel shock works and it may be worth adding a sentence or two on this point in the discussion emphasising this point, but it is up to the authors.

The impact of the jet on the magnetopause is now mentioned briefly but not discussed in detail. However, I did not grasp entirely the complexities introduced by the fact that it is a 2d spatial simulation, and the authors’ arguments in this regard make sense. It will be important to examine this in a future study, as the authors make clear.

Overall the changes to the manuscript and the authors’ replies fully address my previous concerns, and I am very happy to recommend publication in AG.

Hide

ED: Publish as is (28 Aug 2018) by Christopher Mouikis

AR by Minna Palmroth on behalf of the Authors (28 Aug 2018) Manuscript

Short summary

Magnetosheath jets are high-velocity plasma structures that are commonly observed within the Earth's magnetosheath. Previously, they have mainly been investigated with spacecraft observations, which do not allow us to infer their spatial sizes, temporal evolution, or origin. This paper shows for the first time their dimensions, evolution, and origins within a simulation whose dimensions are directly comparable to the Earth's magnetosphere. The results are compared to previous observations.