Residence-Time

Atmospheric-lifetime calculator for a trace species, from Seinfeld & Pandis (2006) Ch. 2 (Atmospheric Trace Constituents), Eqs. 2.3-2.6. The component is observed-only: four algebraic equations, no time derivative, expressing the four textbook definitions of atmospheric lifetime as functions of the species burden Q and the removal/production/outflow rates. tau_general = Q/(R_removal + F_out) is the general lifetime accounting for both chemical removal R_removal and outflow F_out to other reservoirs (Eq. 2.3); tau_removal = Q/R_removal is the global-atmosphere limit with no outflow (Eq. 2.4); tau_production = Q/P is the production-based lifetime, equal to tau_removal at steady state (Eq. 2.5); and tau_first_order = 1/lambda is the lifetime when removal follows first-order kinetics R_removal = lambda*Q (Eq. 2.6). The four definitions interlock: Eq. 2.3 reduces to Eq. 2.4 as F_out -> 0, Eqs. 2.4 and 2.5 coincide when production balances removal, and Eq. 2.6 coincides with Eq. 2.4 when lambda is the consistent first-order rate constant R_removal/Q. Migrated from GasChem.jl@280ee50f src/AtmosphericLifetime.jl:132 (`SpeciesLifetime` @component). Every equation is a closed-form algebraic expression in the parameters, so every inline-test expected value below is the exact arithmetic evaluation of the textbook formula.