Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate

Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate

The rate of decrease of temperature with height of a parcel of dry air lifted adiabatically through the earth's atmosphere in hydrostatic equilibrium.
This lapse rate is g/c_p, where g is the acceleration of gravity and c_p is the specific heat of dry air at constant pressure; numerically equal to 9.767^o C per kilometer or about 5.4^o F per thousand feet. Potential temperature is constant with height in an atmosphere with this lapse rate.

References

This article is based on NASA's Dictionary of Technical Terms for Aerospace Use