The Flapping Motion of Mercury's Magnetotail Current Sheet: MESSENGER Observations

Abstract

Abstract The flapping motion of Mercury's magnetotail current sheet is investigated based on the observations of MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER). The typical flapping period in Mercury's magnetotail is much shorter (~13 s), comparing with ~10–20 min at Earth's magnetotail. The magnetic field oscillation amplitude induced by flapping motion is larger near both flanks than that around tail center. Similar to Earth's magnetotail, there are two flapping types existent in Mercury's magnetotail, one is the kink‐like flapping that can propagate as traveling waves, and the other one is the steady flapping that does not propagate. Both flapping types distribute widely in magnetotail. The kink‐like flapping waves propagating either dawnward or duskward can be observed across the entire magnetotail current sheet, which suggests that the energy sources for triggering the kink‐like flapping waves should locate around both tail flanks instead of tail center as is for the Earth's magnetotail.

Keywords

• Mercury
• Magnetotail
• Current sheet
• Flapping motion