The rate of change of temperature with altitude
(
).
The rate of temperature decrease with increase in altitude which is expected to occur
in an unperturbed dry air mass is
.
This is called the dry
adiabatic lapse rate. The lapse rate is taken as positive when temperature decreases with increasing height.
For air saturated with
H2O, the lapse rate is less because of the release of the
latent heat of water as it condenses. The average tropospheric
lapse rate is about
.
The lapse rate has a negative value within an
inversion layer.
Source:
PAC, 1990, 62, 2167
(Glossary of atmospheric chemistry terms (Recommendations 1990))
on page 2199
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.
