Evidence of Shock-Driven Turbulence in the Solar Chromosphere

We study the acoustic properties of the solar chromosphere in the high-frequency regime using a time sequence of velocity measurements in the chromospheric Ca II 854.2 nm line taken with the Interferometric Bidimensional Spectrometer (IBIS). We concentrate on quiet-Sun behavior, apply Fourier analysis, and characterize the observations in terms of the probability density functions (PDFs) of velocity increments. We confirm the presence of significant oscillatory fluctuation power above the cutoff frequency and find that it obeys a power-law distribution with frequency up to our 25 mHz Nyquist limit. The chromospheric PDFs are non-Gaussian and asymmetric, and they differ among the network, fibril, and internetwork regions. This suggests that the chromospheric high-frequency power is not simply the result of short-period waves propagating upward from the photosphere but rather is the signature of turbulence generated within the chromosphere from shock oscillations near the cutoff frequency. The presence of this pervasive and broad spectrum of motions in the chromosphere is likely to have implications for the excitation of coronal loop oscillations.