  There is observational evidence of propagating kink waves driven by
photospheric motions. These disturbances, interpreted as kink
magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves are attenuated as they propagate upwards in the
solar corona. In this paper we show that resonant absorption provides a simple
explanation to the spatial damping of these waves. Kink MHD waves are studied
using a cylindrical model of solar magnetic flux tubes which includes a
non-uniform layer at the tube boundary. Assuming that the frequency is real and
the longitudinal wavenumber complex, the damping length and damping per
wavelength produced by resonant absorption are analytically calculated. The
damping length of propagating kink waves due resonant absorption is a
monotonically decreasing function of frequency. For kink waves with low
frequencies the damping length is exactly inversely proportional to frequency
and we denote this as the TGV relation. When moving to high frequencies the TGV
relation continues to be an exceptionally good approximation of the actual
dependency of the damping length on frequency. This dependency means that
resonant absorption is selective as it favours low frequency waves and can
efficiently remove high frequency waves from a broad band spectrum of kink
waves. It is selective as the damping length is inversely proportional to
frequency so that the damping becomes more severe with increasing frequency.
This means that radial inhomogeneity can cause solar waveguides to be a natural
low-pass filter for broadband disturbances. Hence kink wave trains travelling
along, e.g., coronal loops, will have a greater proportion of the high
frequency components dissipated lower down in the atmosphere. This could have
important consequences with respect to the spatial distribution of wave heating
in the solar atmosphere.
