= Atmospheric lifetime
{title2=$\tau$}
For a well-mixed atmospheric burden $B$ removed by a single first-order sink, $dB/dt=-B/\tau$, the <atmospheric lifetime> is the <exponential decay> time $\tau$. At steady emission rate $E$, this model gives $B=E\tau$. Independent sinks acting on the same burden have additive inverse lifetimes. Local removal times in separate compartments cannot be combined this way without considering exchange and partitioning. A multi-reservoir perturbation, especially atmospheric <carbon dioxide>, generally needs more than one timescale.
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