Authors: Wei Liu (LMSAL/BAERI), Thomas Berger (Univ. Colorado), Andrei Afanasev (Univ. Colorado), and Yuhong Fan (UCAR/HAO)

Solar prominences are large-scale plasma structures embedded in non-potential magnetic configurations in the corona. These configurations can have far-reaching space weather consequences, as they typically erupt in the form of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) with the prominence comprising the bulk of the mass. The mechanisms by which non-potential field/prominence systems evolve toward eruptions are not well understood. One theory is that magnetic flux emerging below the prominence gradually inject flux and helicity into the system, eventually driving it to an unstable state. Recent discoveries of Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) and Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instabilities in prominences may indicate the interaction of the emerging flux with overlying prominence magnetic fields. Such instabilities are manifested the so-called prominence bubbles, which are mysterious, dome-shaped, apparently void structures residing in the lower portions of prominences. We present recent observations from SDO/AIA and IRIS of prominence bubbles, together with preliminary MHD simulations of prominence-carrying flux ropes. We discuss the role of such instabilities in prominence eruptions, as well mass ad magnetic flux transport in the solar atmosphere in general.