  Recent observational and theoretical studies indicate that the damping of
solar coronal loop oscillations depends on the oscillation amplitude. We
consider two mechanisms, linear resonant absorption and a nonlinear damping
model. We confront theoretical predictions from these models with observed data
in the plane of observables defined by the damping ratio and the oscillation
amplitude. The structure of the Bayesian evidence in this plane displays a
clear separation between the regions where each model is more plausible
relative to the other. There is qualitative agreement between the regions of
high marginal likelihood and Bayes factor for the nonlinear damping model and
the arrangement of observed data. A quantitative application to 101 loop
oscillation cases observed with SDO/AIA results in the marginal likelihood for
the nonlinear model being larger in the majority of them. The cases with
conclusive evidence for the nonlinear damping model outnumber considerably
those in favor of linear resonant absorption.
