Contrast patterns and trends of lapse rates calculated from near-surface air and land surface temperatures in China from 1961 to 2014

Abstract

The near-surface lapse rate reflects the atmospheric stability above the surface. Lapse rates calculated from land surface temperature (γTs) and near-surface air temperature (γTa) have been widely used. However, γTs and γTa have different sensitivity to local surface energy balance and large-scale energy transport and therefore they may have diverse spatial and temporal variability, which has not been clearly illustrated in existing studies. In this study, we calculated and compared γTa and γTs at ~ 2200 stations over China from 1961 to 2014. This study finds that γTa and γTs have a similar multiyear national average (0.53 °C/100 m) and seasonal cycle. Nevertheless, γTs shows steeper multiyear average than γTa at high latitudes, and γTs in summer is steeper than γTa, especially in Northwest China. The North China shows the shallowest γTa and γTs, then inhibiting the vertical diffusion of air pollutants and further reducing the lapse rates due to accumulation of pollutants. Moreover, the long-term trend signs for γTa and γTs are opposite in northern China. However, the trends in γTa and γTs are both negative in Southwest China and positive in Southeast China. Surface incident solar radiation, surface downward longwave radiation and precipitant frequency jointly can account for 80% and 75% of the long-term trends in γTa and γTs in China, respectively, which provides an explanation of trends of γTa and γTs from perspective of surface energy balance.