Flarelike brightenings of active region loops observed with sumer

Coronal loops on the east limb of the Sun were observed by SUMER on SOHO for several days. Small flare-like brightenings are detected very frequently in the hot flare line Fe XIX. We find that the relatively intense events are in good coincidence with the transient brightenings seen by Yohkoh/SXT. A statistical analysis shows that these brightenings have durations of 5-84 min and extensions along the slit of 2-67 Mm. The integrated energy observed in Fe XIX for each event is in the range of 3 × 10¹⁸ - 5 × 10²³ ergs, and the estimated thermal energy ranges from 10 ²⁶ - 10²⁹ ergs. Application of the statistical method proposed by Parnell & Jupp (2000) yields a value of 1.5 to 1.8 for the index of a power law relation between the frequency of the events and the radiated energy in Fe XIX, and a value of 1.7 to 1.8 for the index of the frequency distribution of the thermal energy in the energy range > 10 ²⁷ ergs. We examine the possibility that these small brightenings give a big contribution to heating of the active region corona.