Limits to derived flare properties using estimates for the background fluxes - Examples from GOES

A method has been presented for restricting the random derived flare temperatures and emission measures. The method is based on three tests and is applicable not only to disk-integrated observations, but also for any high-resolution observations that cannot distinguish the emissions from flaring and nonflaring plasma. The first two tests are based on the assumption that both the temperature and the emission measure should increase as the flare flux rises. The third assumes that the preflare temperature of the plasma that flares should exceed the temperature averaged over all other emitting sources. These tests were applied to two solar flares to illustrate the improvements in the derived flare properties. It is shown that flare properties do not always lie between those derived by the use or subtraction of the total preflare flux. The flare properties can, however, be bounded by subtracting and using the long- and short-wavelength preflare fluxes, respectively.