Articles | Volume 20, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-279-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-279-2016
Research article
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19 Jan 2016
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 19 Jan 2016

Aggregation in environmental systems – Part 1: Seasonal tracer cycles quantify young water fractions, but not mean transit times, in spatially heterogeneous catchments

J. W. Kirchner

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (Editor review) (05 Sep 2015) by Thom Bogaard
AR by James Kirchner on behalf of the Authors (26 Oct 2015)  Author's response   Manuscript 
ED: Publish as is (02 Dec 2015) by Thom Bogaard
AR by James Kirchner on behalf of the Authors (04 Dec 2015)
Short summary
Catchment mean transit times have been widely inferred from seasonal cycles of environmental tracers in precipitation and streamflow. Here I show that these cycles yield strongly biased estimates of mean transit times in spatially heterogeneous catchments (and, by implication, in real-world catchments). However, I also show that these cycles can be used to reliably estimate the fraction of "young" water in streamflow, meaning water that fell as precipitation less than roughly 2–3 months ago.