Mapping the temperature and composition of the hot ISM

A pilot study carried out in AO1 has demonstrated that high quality spectra ofthe SXRB can be extracted from {\\sl XMMNewton} datasets provided thebackground is in a quiescent state and there are no bright discrete sources inthe field. Here we propose the continuation of our AO1 programme to map thetemperature and elemental abundances along a section of Loop I and in tworegions of the extended Galactic Bulge. These observations will help elucidatethe origin, state and structure of the hot diffuse plasmas in these regions. Noother satellite has the sensitivity and spectral resolution to perform thesemeasurements. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]