The rate of decrease in temperature with increase in altitude of an air parcel which
is expanding slowly to a lower atmospheric pressure without exchange of heat; for
a descending parcel it is the rate of increase in temperature with decrease in altitude.
Theory predicts that for dry air it is equal to the
acceleration of gravity divided by the specific heat of dry air at constant pressure (approximately
). The moist
adiabatic lapse rate is less than the dry
adiabatic lapse rate and depends on the moisture content of the air mass.
Source:
PAC, 1990, 62, 2167
(Glossary of atmospheric chemistry terms (Recommendations 1990))
on page 2171
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by
A. D. McNaught and A.Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997).
XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic,
J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.
