Analysis of radiosonde-based lapse rates and the difference between near-surface and satellite-based lower-tropospheric air temperatures over the central United States

Abstract

Global-scale near-surface air temperatures have risen in recent decades with respect to lower-tropospheric temperatures, and as result, the lower atmospheric lapse rate has apparently steepened providing a possible destabilization effect. In this investigation, we examine the relationship between inferred lapse rate variations based on the difference between near-surface and lower-tropospheric temperature measurements and actual lapse rates from radiosonde data. We find high correlations between the inferred lapse rate and a range of actual lapse rates (the surface-to-70 kPa to the surface-to-30 kPa) in the low-sun season, but insignificant relations during the high-sun season.