  Following an outburst in 2001 July, the UV flux of WZ Sge has declined slowly
toward pre-outburst levels. Here, we describe new 1150-1710 Angstrom HST/STIS
spectra of WZ Sge obtained between 2002 April and 2003 March to follow the
decline. A combined analysis of these and spectra obtained in the fall of 2001
show that if log g=8.5, then the white dwarf temperature decreased from 23,400
K in 2001 October, shortly after the steady decline of the system began, to
15,900 K 17 months later. The UV flux in 2003 March was still 2.4 times higher
than measured prior to the outburst and so the system was still recovering from
the outburst. During this period, the shape of the spectrum and the flux from
the system are consistent with a log g=8.5, 0.9 solar mass white dwarf at the
astrometrically-determined distance to WZ Sge. Although the spectrum from 2001
September resembles that of a white dwarf with a temperature of 28,200 K, the
implied radius is smaller than in the remainder of the observations. If the
entire white dwarf was visible in 2001 September, then either a second
component, such as the disk emission, was distorting the spectrum, or more
likely, the temperature on the white dwarf photosphere was not uniform then.
The metal lines in the spectra of WZ Sge have weakened with time. Model fits
that allow for material along the line of sight to the white dwarf photosphere
are substantial improvements over models which assume all the lines arise from
the photosphere. This obviates the need to explain very unusual abundance
ratios in the photosphere and complicates the determination of the rotation
rate of the white dwarf.
