Residence times in reservoirs under non-steady-state conditions: application to atmospheric SO2 and aerosol sulfate.

Abstract

The definitions of the residence times describing the rate of removal of materials from natural reservoirs, are extended to encompass time-dependent rates of introduction and removal. This treatment leads to two sets of such residence times, pertinent either to material present in the reservoir at a given observation time or to material that entered the reservoir at a given time of introduction. Relationships are examined among the several residence times, as well as to the burden of material in the reservoir attributable to a given rate of introduction. The several definitions are extended to encompass secondary materials. -from Author