lapse rate

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lapse rate

n.
The rate of decrease of atmospheric temperature with increase in altitude.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

lapse rate

n
(Physical Geography) the rate of change of any meteorological factor with altitude, esp atmospheric temperature, which usually decreases at a rate of 0.6°C per 100 metres (environmental lapse rate). Unsaturated air loses about 1°C per 100 m (dry adiabatic lapse rate), whereas saturated air loses an average 0.5°C per 100 m (saturated adiabatic lapse rate)
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

lapse′ rate`


n.
the rate of decrease of atmospheric temperature with increase of elevation vertically above a given location.
[1915–20]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive
If the temperature decrease with* height is unusually strong, this is a high lapse rate, sometimes called a "steep lapse rate" by meteorologists.
While the wind speed data recorded at DGA suggest that wind does not have an impact on lapse rate, we cannot exclude the possibility that there could be microscale advection occurring along the glacier--particularly in those short periods when lapse rates become very high for a few minutes.
Kushnir (2000), Lapse Rate, Moisture, Clouds and Thuderstorms, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Columbia University [Online], available: http://eesc.columbia.edu/courses/ees/climate/index.html
The interior pressure line (the interior lapse rate "line") moves laterally--horizontally shifts to the left from Figure 2 to Figure 3.
Mean air temperature lapse rates between 15 and 1320 m asl vary at both daily and monthly scales (0.015-0.096[degrees]C [km.sup.-1]); thus, calculation of lapse rates across the ice cap requires knowledge of local meteorological conditions (Holmgren, 1971a).
Of special interest in the area of lapse rate analysis is the role of the financial stress position of the insurer, and whether and in what ways stress considerations may influence policyholder lapsation/persistence.
The court noted a valid dispute over Capital's adjustment for goodwill, but rejected as erroneous the Tax Court's conclusion that Capital failed to establish a "lapse rate" for its contracts (i.e., the probability that each group's contract would lapse in any given year).
High [E.sub.p] rates at high elevations are expected (1) in mountains of the dry tropics with low cloudiness and low rainfall but high radiation and, (2) in small oceanic mountain ranges with a strong advection of moist air and, thus, a reduced temperature lapse rate on the slope.
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