Lake retention time (also called the residence time of lake water, or the water age or flushing time) is a calculated quantity expressing the mean time that water (or some dissolved substance) spends in a particular lake. At its simplest this figure is the result of dividing the lake volume by the flow in or out of the lake. It roughly expresses the amount of time taken for a substance introduced into a lake to flow out of it again. The retention time is especially important where pollutants are concerned.
Read more about Lake Retention Time: Global Retention Time, More Specific Residence Times, List of Residence Times of Lake Water
Famous quotes containing the words lake, retention and/or time:
“Wordsworth went to the Lakes, but he was never a lake poet. He found in stones the sermons he had already hidden there.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Unless a group of workers know their work is under surveillance, that they are being rated as fairly as human beings, with the fallibility that goes with human judgment, can rate them, and that at least an attempt is made to measure their worth to an organization in relative terms, they are likely to sink back on length of service as the sole reason for retention and promotion.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“I take enormous pleasure every time I see something that I’ve done that cannot be wiped out. In some way ... I guess it’s a protest against mortality. But it’s been so much fun! It’s the curiosity that drives me. It’s making a difference in the world that prevents me from ever giving up.”
—Deborah Meier (b. 1931)