Two-frequency imaging of microwave impulsive flares near the solar limb

VLA observations of two impulsive microwave and hard X-ray flares close to the solar limb on November 21 and 22, 1981 are presently interpreted in terms of an inhomogeneous flare volume, with the magnetic field strength and orientation varying with position both transverse to, and along, the line-of-sight. The 15 GHz radiation of the flares on both days may be due to electrons of E = 300 keV in weak nonthermal tail; the absence of 4.9 GHz radiation from these sources is attributed to absorption along the ray path from the flare to the earth, on the basis of the fact that thermal bremsstrahlung and gyrosynchrotron radiation mechanisms generate more low than high frequency radiation.