  Aims. Taking account of steady flow in solar prominences, we study its
effects on spatial damping of small-amplitude non-adiabatic magnetoacoustic
waves in a homogeneous, isothermal, and unbounded prominence plasma. Methods.
We model the typical feature of observed damped oscillatory motion in
prominences, removing the adiabaticity assumption through thermal conduction,
radiation and heating. Invoking steady flow in MHD equations, we linearise them
under small-amplitude approximation and obtain a new general dispersion
relation for linear non-adiabatic magnetoacoustic waves in prominences Results.
The presence of steady flow breaks the symmetry of forward and backward
propagating MHD wave modes in prominences. The steady flow has dramatic
influence on the propagation and damping of magnetoacoustic and thermal waves.
Depending upon the direction and strength of flow the magnetoacoustic and
thermal modes can show both the features of wave amplification and damping. At
the wave period of 5 min where the photospheric power is maximum, the slow mode
shows wave amplification. However, in the absence of steady flow the slow mode
wave shows damping. Conclusions. For the wave period between 5 min and 15 min,
the amplification length for slow mode, in the case of prominence regime 1.1,
varies between 3.4*10^11 m to 2*10^12 m. Dramatic influence of steady flow on
small-amplitude prominence oscillations is likely to play an important role in
both wave detection and prominence seismology.
