  A statistical analysis of almost 50000 soft X-ray (SXR) flares observed by
GOES during the period 1976-2000 is presented. On the basis of this extensive
data set, statistics on temporal properties of soft X-ray flares, such as
duration, rise and decay times with regard to the SXR flare classes is
presented. Correlations among distinct flare parameters, i.e. SXR peak flux,
fluence and characteristic times, and frequency distributions of flare
occurrence as function of the peak flux, the fluence and the duration are
derived. We discuss the results of the analysis with respect to statistical
flare models, the idea of coronal heating by nanoflares, and elaborate on
implications of the obtained results on the Neupert effect in solar flares.
