Observations of Short-period Current Sheet Flapping Events in the Earth's Magnetotail

Abstract

The flapping motion of the current sheet, with the period from several minutes to tens of minutes, is one common dynamic phenomenon in the planetary magnetotail. This Letter reports on one current sheet flapping event with the short semi-period of ∼6 s on 2017 July 17 in the Earth’s magnetotail for the first time using the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. This short time period flapping event consists of five consecutive crossings of the current sheet. Based on a multipoint analysis of the MMS, it is found that the first four crossings propagated duskward and belong to kink-like flapping, and the fifth crossing belongs to steady flapping. The current sheet flapping was embedded in the diffusion region of magnetic reconnection, which was identified by the well-organized Hall electromagnetic field. The period of current sheet flapping was modulated by the reconnection electric field and perpendicular plasma flow, indicating that this flapping motion may be triggered by the periodical unsteady magnetic reconnection.