1. SCIENCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES IT HAS BEEN WELL KNOWN THAT A SOLAR FLARE IS COMPOSED OF HUNDREDS TO THOUSANDS OF LOOPS THAT FORM AND EVOLVE SEQUENTIALLY. WE PROPOSE TO STUDY THE HEATING AND COOLING OF FLARE LOOPS AND ESTIMATE THE TOTAL ENERGY USED TO HEAT THESE LOOPS IN A LARGE SAMPLE (~100) OF SOLAR FLARES. FOR THIS PURPOSE WE WILL ANALYZE FLARE OBSERVATIONS IN UV EUV AND X-RAY WAVELENGTHS AND USE A METHOD THAT WE HAVE DEVELOPED TO EFFICIENTLY COMPUTE THE AVERAGE PLASMA PROPERTIES OF A MULTITUDE OF FLARE LOOPS WITH MAXIMAL OBSERVATIONAL CONSTRAINTS. THIS APPROACH PROVIDES A MUCH IMPROVED ESTIMATE OF ENERGY USED TO HEAT THE FLARE CORONA. THE GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO QUANTIFY THE ENERGY INPUT IN SOLAR FLARES INCORPORATING THE IDEA THAT FLARE HEATING TAKES PLACE IN MANY LOOPS AND STUDY HOW THE FLARE HEATING ENERGY AND ITS TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION IS RELATED TO MAGNETIC PROPERTIES IN ACTIVE REGIONS. WE WILL DERIVE THE HEATING RATE IN EACH LOOP AND TOTAL HEATING ENERGY IN FLARE CORONA FOR EACH OF ~100 FLARES. WE WILL INVESTIGATE THE EVOLUTION OF THE PLASMA PROPERTIES THERMAL CONDUCTION AND RADIATION IN THE CORONA AND TRANSITION REGION DURING DIFFERENT STAGES OF THE FLARES. WE WILL EXPLORE THE MAGNITUDES OF THE CURRENTS THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE MAGNETIC FLUX CONCENTRATIONS IN THE FLARE RIBBONS. THESE MEASUREMENTS WITH A LARGE SAMPLE PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO ENERGY RELEASE AND PLASMA EVOLUTION OF THE FLARE LOOPS IN A VARIETY OF MAGNETIC CONFIGURATIONS AND IN DIFFERENT MAGNITUDES OF FLARES. 2. LIST OF MISSIONS SDO: AIA HMI EVE; HINODE: XRT; RHESSI; GOES 3. METHODOLOGY WE WILL ANALYZE OBSERVATIONS BY SDO HINODE AND RHESSI. WE HAVE ESTABLISHED A DATABASE OF FLARES WELL COVERED BY THESE OPERATING MISSIONS. FOR EACH FLARE SPATIALLY RESOLVED UV LIGHT CURVES WILL BE USED TO IDENTIFY FOOT-POINTS OF FLARE LOOPS AND TO CONSTRUCT HEATING RATES IN THESE LOOPS. USING THESE HEATING RATES A 0D MODEL WILL BE RUN TO COMPUTE PLASMA PROPERTIES AND GENERATE SYNTHETIC X-RAY AND EUV EMISSIONS TO COMPARE WITH OBSERVATION. WITH THIS METHOD WE WILL DERIVE AN IMPROVED ESTIMATE OF ENERGY USED TO HEAT THE FLARE CORONA. WE WILL STUDY THE FLARE ENERGETICS THROUGHOUT THE FLARES AND DETERMINE WHETHER SLOW-HEATING IS UBIQUITOUS IN A LARGE SAMPLE OF FLARES. WE WILL EXPLORE THE SCALING PROPERTIES BETWEEN PHYSICAL PARAMETERS ON ENERGY RELEASE IN FLARES. WE WILL STUDY THE KEY INGREDIENTS AFFECTING THE FLARE EVOLUTION SUCH AS THE MAGNETIC CONFIGURATIONS AND GEOMETRIC PROPERTIES. 4. RELEVANCE TO MISSION GOALS AND DECADAL SURVEY SCIENCE GOALS THE PROPOSED RESEARCH MEETS THE SDO MISSION GOAL TO IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF "HOW DOES MAGNETIC RECONNECTION ON SMALL SCALES REORGANIZE THE LARGE-SCALE FIELD TOPOLOGY AND CURRENT SYSTEMS AND HOW SIGNIFICANT IS IT IN HEATING THE CORONA AND ACCELERATING THE SOLAR WIND." THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS COMPLIANT WITH THE HINODE MISSION GOAL TO "DETERMINE THE MECHANISMS RESPONSIBLE FOR ERUPTIVE PHENOMENA SUCH AS FLARES AND CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS AND UNDERSTAND THESE PHENOMENA IN THE CONTEXT OF THE SPACE WEATHER OF THE SUN-EARTH SYSTEM." AND THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS CONSISTENT WITH THE RHESSI MISSION GOAL TO UNDERSTAND "DETERMINE IF ALL FLARES LARGE AND SMALL HAVE SIMILAR CHARACTERISTICS SUGGESTING THAT THEY ARE ALL MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SAME BASIC PROCESSES." THE PROPOSED RESEARCH ADDRESSES TWO SCIENCE GOALS IN THE SOLAR AND SPACE PHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY TO "DETERMINE THE ORIGINS OF THE SUN S ACTIVITY AND PREDICT THE VARIATIONS IN THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT" (KEY SCIENCE GOAL 1) AND "DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESS THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE" (KEY SCIENCE GOAL 4).