Hi Robertus, hi all,

>however, both hinode and very recent rosa observations have shown the
omnipotent presence of mhd waves ... that have the necessary poyting flux to heat the lower
atmosphere or corona. so, it is not just reconnection!

There are two important aspects, in my opinion:
(a) even if the Poynting flux is sufficient, there also should be sufficiently effective mechanisms for the wave energy dissipation at a reasonable height. The efficiency of both phase mixing and RA is determined by the steepness of the transverse structuring of the waveguiding plasma structures.

Structuring is definitely an unknown parameter, as you've pointed out:
>if (IF) we want to get closer to loop fine structure
(multi-thread vs whatever) or uncover the operating heating function, a
very promising and currently already available way is of the one by
magneto-seismology.

I agree. As I have mentioned in this forum before, there are several coronal seismological indications of the subresolution structuring of the corona. But, what is important is not only the spatial scale of structuring, but also the gradients of the plasma parameters.

(b) The amplitudes of the observed transverse waves are sufficiently high to produce a significant change of the magnetic field in the vicinity of the potential reconnection
sites. Hence, the waves can effectively contribute to reconnection, and then the separation of "wave-based" and "reconnection-based" mechanisms for heating seems to be a bit too artificial.

All the best,

Valery