  We review the status of nu_mu-->nu_tau flavor transitions of atmospheric
neutrinos in the 92 kton-year data sample collected in the first phase of the
Super-Kamiokande (SK) experiment, in combination with the recent spectral data
from the KEK-to-Kamioka (K2K) accelerator experiment (including 29 single-ring
muon events). We consider a theoretical framework which embeds flavor
oscillations plus hypothetical decoherence effects, and where both standard
oscillations and pure decoherence represent limiting cases. It is found that
standard oscillations provide the best description of the SK+K2K data, and that
the associated mass-mixing parameters are determined at 1 sigma (and d.o.f.=1)
as: Delta m^2=(2.6 +- 0.4)x10^{-3} eV^2 and sin^2(2theta)=1.00+0.00-0.05. As
compared with standard oscillations, the case of pure decoherence is
disfavored, although it cannot be ruled out yet. In the general case,
additional decoherence effects in the nu_mu-->nu_tau channel do not improve the
fit to the SK and K2K data, and upper bounds can be placed on the associated
decoherence parameter. Such indications, presently dominated by SK, could be
strengthened by further K2K data, provided that the current spectral features
are confirmed with higher statistics. A detailed description of the statistical
analysis of SK and K2K data is also given, using the so-called ``pull''
approach to systematic uncertainties.
