Solar prominences are cool 10⁴ Kelvin plasma clouds supported in the surrounding 10⁶ Kelvin coronal plasma by as-yet undetermined mechanisms. Observations from Hinode show fine-scale threadlike structures oscillating in the plane of the sky with periods of several minutes. We suggest these transverse magnetohydrodynamic waves may represent Alfvén waves propagating on coronal magnetic field lines and these may play a role in heating the corona.
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Okamoto et al. (2008) studied this question.