A note on the concepts of age distribution and transit time in natural reservoirs

Bolin, Bert; Rodhe, Henning

doi:10.1111/j.2153-3490.1973.tb01594.x

Cited by 315 publications

(194 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

192

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Other metrics (e.g. transit time, Bolin and Rodhe, 1973) and other approaches (e.g. statistical distribution of the age, Waugh and Hall, 2002) do exist to characterise the transport timescale, but exploring them is clearly out of the scope of this study.…”

Section: Beryllium Isotopes As Quantitative Tracers Of Stratospheric Airmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling the stratospheric budget of beryllium isotopes

Delaygue¹,

Bekki²,

Bard

2015

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A B S T R A C TA global 2-D (latitudeÁaltitude) model describing both the stratospheric circulation and the detailed formation and growth of stratospheric aerosols is used to simulate the stratospheric cycle of cosmogenic isotopes of beryllium, Be-7 and Be-10. These isotopes have been extensively used as tracers of stratospheric air, as well as of solar variability. The simulation of these isotopes is used to quantify the relative importance of transport, microphysic processes related to aerosols, and radioactive decay, on their concentrations. Calculations of model budget show that the vertical transfer of these isotopes due to the aerosol sedimentation contributes to about half of the stratospheric Be-10 flux into the troposphere, but is negligible for the Be-7 budget. The simulated residence time of these isotopes in the lower stratosphere is monotonically related to the age of air; however, this relationship is neither linear nor uniform, which biases the age of air inferred from these isotopes.

show abstract

Section: Beryllium Isotopes As Quantitative Tracers Of Stratospheric Airmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling the stratospheric budget of beryllium isotopes

Delaygue¹,

Bekki²,

Bard

2015

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Transit (or travel) time is defined as the elapsed time from when a water molecule enters a system (or reservoir; e.g., catchment, aquifer, lake) until it exits (Bolin and Rodhe, 1973). The catchment transit time is a lumped descriptor that reflects storage, flow pathways and sources of water in a catchment (McGuire and McDonnell, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal variability in mean transit time and transit time distributions assessed by a tracer-aided tank model of a meso-scale catchment

Yamanaka

2013

Hydrological Research Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:The steady-state assumption for catchment transit time is a controversial issue in catchment hydrology. In this study, we propose a new approach to estimate the time-variant mean transit time (MTT) and transit time distribution (TTD) using a five-layer tank model with isotopic tracers and test it in the Fuefuki River catchment, central Japan. Model parameters were optimized during the calibration phase based on hydrometric and isotopic observations and then validated in a separate validation phase. The long-term (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012) average MTT was estimated to be 23.7 years. However, the daily MTT was highly variable, ranging from 1.2 to 37.0 years. Instantaneous TTD also varied markedly. Precipitation alters TTD by increasing younger components and shortens the MTT. Thus, a steady-state assumption is inappropriate, with the relationship between monthly MTT and precipitation amount most closely approximated by an exponential function. The dependence of MTT on precipitation is an important descriptor for characterizing catchments. Although optimized model-parameters have some uncertainties, potential errors in estimating the MTT are relatively small (e.g., < ±3 years). Therefore, the tracer-aided tank model is useful for estimating time variations in MTT and TTD with high reliability.

show abstract

“…The total residual through-flow is then obtained by integrating the residual flow velocities over the cross-section of the inlets connecting the basin with the sea, or in an equivalent way, by integrating the instantaneous volume flow rate through the inlets over a tidal cycle. This quantity can be used to characterize the system by computing, for example, typical transport time scales (see, e.g., Bolin and Rodhe 1973;Monsen et al 2002). In addition, the residual through-flow can play an important role in the stability of the inlets (Salles et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calculating residual flows through a multiple-inlet system: the conundrum of the tidal period

Duran‐Matute

Gerkema

2015

Ocean Dynamics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The concept of residual, i.e., tidally-averaged, flows through a multiple inlet system is reappraised. The evaluation of the residual through-flow depends on the time interval over which is integrated, in other words, on how one defines the tidal period. It is demonstrated that this definition is ambiguous and that different definitions (based on, e.g., high waters, slack tides, etc.) yield very different results for the residual, also in terms of their long-term statistical properties (median and standard deviation). A basin-wide applicable method of defining the tidal period, in terms of enclosed water volume, is analyzed. We compare the different methods on the basis of high-resolution model results for the Western Dutch Wadden Sea. The multitude of tidal constituents together with wind variability creates broad distributions for the residuals, with standard deviations much larger than the mean or median residual flows.

show abstract

A note on the concepts of age distribution and transit time in natural reservoirs

Cited by 315 publications

References 3 publications

Modelling the stratospheric budget of beryllium isotopes

Modelling the stratospheric budget of beryllium isotopes

Temporal variability in mean transit time and transit time distributions assessed by a tracer-aided tank model of a meso-scale catchment

Calculating residual flows through a multiple-inlet system: the conundrum of the tidal period

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About