Abstract:
The foreshock region is the first signature of the interaction of the solar wind with a planet's plasma environment when approaching its bow shock. Part of its structure and dynamic is determined by instabilities, which are created by the interaction of the solar wind with backstreaming ions. The interaction of reflected ions with the solar wind drives ion/ion beam instabilities, which generate waves that are then convected towards the shock by the solar wind. Subsequently these waves mediate the shock structure and its reflection properties and as a result ion reflection, wave excitation by instabilities, shock and foreshock dynamic show therefore a close association. However, the possible sources and the physical processes creating these ions and the associated turbulence are unclear. Over the past year recent single and multi-spacecraft observations, theoretical considerations, and numerical simulations provided new insights to which physical processes determine the nature of the foreshock region.

For this session we therefore solicit contributions, which are in the broad context of the structure and dynamic of the foreshock region of planetary bow shocks. We highly welcome contribution from spacecraft observation at Earth, but also in particular at other planets, including, e.g., recent results at Mars or obtained by Cassini at Jupiter and Saturn, as well as theory and numerical modeling to underline the interdisciplinary character of this session.

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Abstract submission.