Nonthermal Linewidths from Serts: Implications for Coronal Heating Models

Observations from Solar Extreme-ultraviolet Research Telescope and Spectrograph (SERTS) are used to determine the nonthermal velocity in the corona for active and quiet Sun regions in 1991 and 1993. A nonthermal velocity of 20-30 km/s is obtained in all solar structures observed at both observing times. These observations can be used to constrain coronal heating models. The idea that magnetic reconnection could provide energy to heat the non-transient corona is not supported by the data.