Skip to main content

MINI REVIEW article

Front. Astron. Space Sci.
Sec. Space Physics
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspas.2024.1436916

Transient Upstream Mesoscale Structures: Drivers of Solar-Quiet Space Weather

Provisionally accepted
Primoz Kajdic Primoz Kajdic 1*Xochitl Blanco-Cano Xochitl Blanco-Cano 1Lucile Turc Lucile Turc 2Martin Archer Martin Archer 3Savvas Raptis Savvas Raptis 4Terry Z. Liu Terry Z. Liu 5Yann Pfau-Kempf Yann Pfau-Kempf 2Adrian LaMoury Adrian LaMoury 3Yufei Hao Yufei Hao 6Christophe P. Escoubet Christophe P. Escoubet 7Nojan Omidi Nojan Omidi 8David G. Sibeck David G. Sibeck 9Boyi Wang Boyi Wang 10Hui Zhang Hui Zhang 11Yu Lin Yu Lin 12
  • 1 National Autonomous University of Mexico, México City, Mexico
  • 2 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland
  • 3 Imperial College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 4 Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
  • 5 University of California, Los Angeles, California, United States
  • 6 Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 7 European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk, Netherlands
  • 8 Solana Scientific Inc, Solana Beach, United States
  • 9 Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, Maryland, United States
  • 10 Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzen, China
  • 11 Shandong University, Weihai, China
  • 12 Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that space weather disturbances can be triggered by transient upstream mesoscale structures (TUMS), independently of the occurrence of large-scale solar wind (SW) structures, such as interplanetary coronal mass ejections and stream interaction regions. Different types of magnetospheric pulsations, transient perturbations of the geomagnetic field and auroral structures are often observed during times when SW monitors indicate quiet conditions, and have been found to be associated to TUMS. In this mini-review we describe the space weather phenomena that have been associated with four of the largest-scale and the most energetic TUMS, namely hot flow anomalies, foreshock bubbles, travelling foreshocks and foreshock compressional boundaries. The space weather phenomena associated with TUMS tend to be more localized and less intense compared to geomagnetic storms. However, the quiet time space weather may occur more often since, especially during solar minima, quiet SW periods prevail over the perturbed times.

    Keywords: bow shock, transient upstream mesoscale structures, solar-quiet space weather, foreshock, Solar wind

    Received: 22 May 2024; Accepted: 12 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kajdic, Blanco-Cano, Turc, Archer, Raptis, Liu, Pfau-Kempf, LaMoury, Hao, Escoubet, Omidi, Sibeck, Wang, Zhang and Lin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Primoz Kajdic, National Autonomous University of Mexico, México City, Mexico

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.