How does the existence of a Greenhouse Gas Effect (GHE) in the atmosphere affect the tropospheric lapse rate?

Asked by: Nicole Phillips

How does the atmospheric lapse rate affect greenhouse warming?

A stronger lapse rate (the rate of decrease of temperature with altitude) gives rise to a stronger greenhouse effect and a warmer surface, all else being equal. If the lapse rate changes systematically with the surface temperature, then a potentially strong lapse rate feedback may exist.

How does the atmosphere affect the greenhouse effect?

The Short Answer:



The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap the Sun’s heat. This process makes Earth much warmer than it would be without an atmosphere. The greenhouse effect is one of the things that makes Earth a comfortable place to live.

What do greenhouse gases do in the troposphere?

Greenhouse gas molecules in the atmosphere absorb light, preventing some of it from escaping the Earth. This heats up the atmosphere and raises the planet’s average temperature.

How do greenhouse gases affect the flow of energy through the atmosphere?

By adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, the atmosphere becomes more “closed” to energy passing through it, absorbing more. Therefore, thermal energy that once would have been allowed to escape into space is instead absorbed by carbon dioxide and used to heat the Earth.

What is the lapse rate in the troposphere?

about 6.5 °C per kilometre

type of lapse rate



air—commonly referred to as the normal, or environmental, lapse rate—is highly variable, being affected by radiation, convection, and condensation; it averages about 6.5 °C per kilometre (18.8 °F per mile) in the lower atmosphere (troposphere).

What are the causes of lapse rate?

The phenomenon exists because warm moist air rises through orographic lifting up and over the top of a mountain range or large mountain. The temperature decreases with the dry adiabatic lapse rate, until it hits the dew point, where water vapor in the air begins to condense.

How does the greenhouse effect work quizlet?

How does the greenhouse effect work? Visible light is emitted through the sun and passes through the infrared-blocking greenhouse gases. The light then warms the surface of the earth and turns into infrared heat, which is then trapped in the atmosphere and reflected by greenhouse gases.

Does the greenhouse effect occur in the troposphere?

At the top of the troposphere, 12 miles high, ozone acts as a greenhouse gas, trapping heat.

What is the most important greenhouse gas in the troposphere?

Water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

Does the greenhouse effect warm the troposphere?

greenhouse effect, a warming of Earth’s surface and troposphere (the lowest layer of the atmosphere) caused by the presence of water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, and certain other gases in the air. Of those gases, known as greenhouse gases, water vapour has the largest effect.

How do you determine the atmospheric lapse rate?

Lapse Rate: Temperature and Altitude



As seen in Fig. 1.1, in the lowest 10 km of the earth’s atmosphere, the air temperature generally decreases with altitude. The rate of this temperature change with altitude, the “lapse rate,” is by definition the negative of the change in temperature with altitude, i.e., −dT/dz.

What is the environmental lapse rate and how is it determined quizlet?

The environmental lapse rate is the decrease in temperature as you go up through the troposphere avg = 3.5 degrees F/ 100 ft. It is determined by radio sounds attached to a balloon.

Why does the troposphere decrease?

Instead, the ground absorbs this radiation and then heats the tropospheric air by conduction and convection. Since this heating is most effective near the ground, the temperature in the troposphere gradually decreases with increasing altitude until the tropopause is reached.

How does lapse rate affect temperature?

The Lapse Rate is the rate at which temperature changes with height in the Atmosphere. Lapse rate nomenclature is inversely related to the change itself: if the lapse rate is positive, the temperature decreases with height; conversely if negative, the temperature increases with height.

What happens when environmental lapse rate increases?

Conversely, if the actual measured lapse rate is greater than 9.8 °C/1000 m, a parcel of air displaced upward from its initial height becomes warmer than its surroundings and therefore tends to rise (Fig. 4.6b). If pushed downward, the parcel becomes colder than its surroundings and therefore tends to keep sinking.

What does lapse rate indicate about the atmospheric heat source?

Atmospheric stability can be measured in terms of lapse rate (i.e., the temperature differences associated with vertical movement of air). A high lapse rate indicates a greater than normal change of temperature associated with a change in altitude and is characteristic of an unstable atmosphere.

What is the relationship between temperature lapse rates and atmospheric stability?

A temperature lapse rate less than the dry adiabatic rate of 5.5°F. per 1,000 feet for an unsaturated parcel is considered stable, because vertical motion is damped. A lapse rate greater than dry-adiabatic favors vertical motion and is unstable.

Is the lapse rate negative or positive in the troposphere?

Answer. This coldest layer of the atmosphere, where the lapse rate changes from positive (in the troposphere) to negative (in the stratosphere), is defined as the tropopause. Thus, the tropopause is an inversion layer, and there is little mixing between the two layers of the atmosphere.

What happens to the stability of the air as lapse rate increases?

The atmosphere is considered to be stable if a rising parcel cools faster than the environmental lapse rate. This causes the air parcel to be cooler and more dense than its surroundings and, therefore, lose its buoyancy.