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

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.