A comparison of computed and observed line profiles and flash intensities in the photosphere-chromosphere transition region

This paper mainly deals with the development of a method for the interpretation of eclipse observations in the extreme limb - lower chromosphere transition region. We compute line profiles emitted by a column of 1 cm2 cross section along the line of sight and, by integration, profiles and total (flash) intensities from a slice of 1 cm width beyond the Moon's edge, at various heights with respect to the solar limb. The solar models used are mentioned in Section 1; method and approximations are described in Section 2. Calculations have been made for some Fei lines with various equivalent widths (Table I); the results are discussed in Section 3. It appears that the method enables one to distinguish between the various models. Particularly line intensities just inside the limb are very important.