Atomic Data for Solar Corona Studies

In recent years due to the increased sophistication of space instrumentation ever more detailed observations of a large variety of coronal structures became available. Nevertheless, thus far no credible model emerged that describes the means by which the solar upper atmosphere is created and maintained. Nevertheless, while interpreting such spectra, some unexpected properties of coronal plasmas were discovered. Although there are many cases where agreements between observations and calculations are found, there are cases were clear discrepancies do exist. I discuss some of the unexpected observational results that were recently discovered, and suggest some observations that if successfully executed could help explain the processes that form and maintain the solar upper atmosphere.