NONLINEAR STUDIES OF CORONAL HEATING BY THE RESONANT ABSORPTION OF ALFVEN WAVES - COMMENT

Ofman et al. [1994] claim to have simulated the nonlinear development of the resonant absorption of Alfven waves. We argue that linear resonant absorption does not occur in the configuration they studied and we suggest that phase mixing (refraction) is the dominant linear effect in their simulations. We point out, however, that their demonstrtion of the Kelvin-Helmholz instability of refracting Alfven waves may have important implications for solar coronal heating.