The flapping motion of the Venusian magnetotail: Venus Express observations

With a newly developed technique and magnetic field measurements obtained by the magnetometer on Venus Express, we study the flapping motion of the Venusian magnetotail. We find that the flapping motion generally comprises contributions both from a nonpropagating steady flapping and a propagating ki...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of geophysical research. Space physics 2015-07, Vol.120 (7), p.5593-5602
Main Authors: Rong, Z. J., Barabash, S., Stenberg, G., Futaana, Y., Zhang, T. L., Wan, W. X., Wei, Y., Wang, X. D., Chai, L. H., Zhong, J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Boundaries
current sheet
Current sheets
Electric fields
Flapping
flapping motion
Magnetic fields
Magnetosheath
magnetotail
Magnetotails
Planes
Planetary magnetic fields
plasma sheet
Propagation
Solar wind
Venus
Venus Express (ESA)
Wind power generation
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Summary:With a newly developed technique and magnetic field measurements obtained by the magnetometer on Venus Express, we study the flapping motion of the Venusian magnetotail. We find that the flapping motion generally comprises contributions both from a nonpropagating steady flapping and a propagating kink‐like flapping. The flapping motion tilts the current sheet normal significantly in the plane perpendicular to the Venus‐Sun line. The kink‐like flapping waves traveling along solar wind electric field or its antidirection can be found in either magnetotail hemisphere where solar wind electric field pointing toward/away. The traveling behaviors suggest that the locations of the triggers for kink‐like flappings are near the boundaries between magnetotail current sheet and magnetosheath, not near the central region of magnetotail as is for the Earth's magnetotail. Key Points Current sheet normals are varied in the YZ plane during flapping period The flapping motions compromise the nonpropagating and propagating type Sources for the kink-like flapping probably locate at the magnetotail flanks
ISSN:2169-9380
2169-9402
DOI:10.1002/2015JA021317