On reconnection as an energy release mechanism in the solar atmosphere

Basic principles and the fundamental ideas, which are under current use to model the magnetic reconnection process in the corona and photosphere, are briefly reviewed and demonstrated. The so-called 'rainbow reconnection' model is applied to solar observations with the HXT on board Yohkoh, the MDI instrument on the SOHO, TRACE, and Solar Magnetic Field Telescope of the Beijing Astronomical Observatory. In particular, an interpretation of the physical mechanism is given for the well-observed Bastille-day 2000 flare.