Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
Spectroscopic observations of hot white dwarfs utilizing the Explorer (IUE) high resolution spectrograph have led to the important discovery of ion absorption features (undetectable at low resolution) which have been ascribed to wind outflow in some cases (cf. Bruhweiler and Kondo 1983) and formation at the photosphere (cf. Sion and Guinan 1983; Bruhweiler and Kondo 1983; Dupree and Raymond 1982) in others. These line features, often weak and sharp, have presented a fundamental challenge to current understanding of the complex interplay of physical processes which control observed surface abundances in white dwarfs: gravitational/thermal diffusion, selective radiative support of ions, mass loss, convective dilution and mixing, and accretion (cf. the review by Vauclair, this volume and references therein).