MHD jets in inhomogeneous media

We present simulations of the propagation of non-adiabatic molecular jets into an inhomogeneous ambient medium. The jets have inflow conditions described by a MHD jet model where the shape of the magnetic field lines is prescribed near the source. Ambient density profiles are chosen to represent the transition zone between the outer regions of a molecular cloud and the ISM. We have scaled the atomic and molecular cooling rates to appropriate levels in order to properly resolve all length scales involved. With the inclusion of source variability, the simulations reproduce several observational features of molecular jets such as molecular cavities. Additionally, we find similarities between theory and observation for the ionization fraction along the jet. The lateral extent of the internal working surfaces is found to be sensitive to the environment. We also present preliminary results from a method of calculating emission line maps using only fundamental state variables that seems to reproduce the observed filamentary Balmer emission on shock fronts.