Understanding plasma energisation and energy transport is a grand challenge of space plasma physics, and due to its vicinity, the Earth’s Magnetospheric System provides an excellent laboratory in which to investigate such processes. Fundamental processes such as shock re-formation, magnetic reconnection, turbulence, wave-particle interactions, plasma jets braking and their combination initiate and govern particle energisation and energy transport in key regions: the foreshock, the bow shock, the magnetosheath, the magnetopause, the magnetotail current sheet, and the transition region.
ESA/Cluster and NASA/MMS four-point constellations, as well as the large-scale multipoint mission NASA/THEMIS, have greatly improved our understanding of these plasma processes at individual scales compared to earlier single-point measurements. However, such missions also revealed that a key characteristic of these processes is to operate across multiple scales, ranging from the large fluid scales to the smaller kinetic scales, implying that multi-scale in situ observations are critical. Simultaneous measurements at both fluid and kinetic scales are required to resolve scale coupling and ultimately fully understand plasma energisation and energy transport processes.
Building on previous single-scale missions, the Plasma Observatory (PMO) mission represents the next generation of space plasma physics investigations. PMO is a seven-spacecraft multi-scale mission concept tailored to study plasma energization and energy transport in the Earth's Magnetospheric System simultaneously at both fluid and ion scales. These are the scales at which the largest amount of electromagnetic energy is converted into energized particles and energy is transported.
This session invites submissions on the topic of multiscale cross-scale coupling, including simulations, multi-point techniques, instrumentation, and theory. Submissions on the connection to in-situ, remote sensing, and ground-based observations are also encouraged.