  Using one-arcsecond-slit scan observations from the Hinode/EUV Imaging
Spectrometer (EIS) on 05 February 2007, we find the plasma outflows in the open
and expanding coronal funnels at the eastern boundary of AR 10940. The Doppler
velocity map of Fe XII 195.120 A shows that the diffuse close-loop system to be
mostly red-shifted. The open arches (funnels) at the eastern boundary of AR
exhibit blue-shifts with a maximum speed of about 10-15 km/s. This implies
outflowing plasma through these magnetic structures. In support of these
observations, we perform a 2D numerical simulation of the expanding coronal
funnels by solving the set of ideal MHD equations in appropriate VAL-III C
initial temperature conditions using the FLASH code. We implement a rarefied
and hotter region at the footpoint of the model funnel, which results in the
evolution of slow plasma perturbations propagating outward in the form of
plasma flows. We conclude that the heating, which may result from magnetic
reconnection, can trigger the observed plasma outflows in such coronal funnels.
This can transport mass into the higher corona, giving rise to the formation of
the nascent solar wind.
