the volume of urine that would be excreted per minute if the urinary solutes were accompanied by just enough water to make the urine isosmotic with plasma, i.e., so that the solute excretion did not change the osmolality of body fluids. To calculate it, the volume of urine excreted per minute is multiplied by the urinary osmolality (usually measured by freezing point depression) and divided by the plasma osmolality. Osmolal clearance is less than actual urine flow when urine is hyposmotic and exceeds it when urine is hyperosmotic.