Editing Lapse rate (section)

== Impact on the greenhouse effect ==
If the environmental lapse rate was zero, so that the atmosphere was the same temperature at all elevations, then there would be no [[greenhouse effect]]. This doesn't mean the lapse rate and the greenhouse effect are the same thing, just that the lapse rate is a prerequisite for the greenhouse effect.<ref name="ThomasStamnes1999">{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Gary E. |last2=Stamnes |first2=Knut |title=Radiative Transfer in the Atmosphere and Ocean |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-40124-0}}</ref>

The presence of greenhouse gases on a planet causes radiative cooling of the air, which leads to the formation of a non-zero lapse rate. So, the presence of greenhouse gases leads to there being a greenhouse effect at a global level. However, this need not be the case at a localized level.

The localized greenhouse effect is stronger in locations where the lapse rate is stronger. In Antarctica, thermal inversions in the atmosphere (so that air at higher altitudes is warmer) sometimes cause the localized greenhouse effect to become negative (signifying enhanced radiative cooling to space instead of inhibited radiative cooling as is the case for a positive greenhouse effect).<ref name="hsch">{{Cite journal |last1=Schmithüsen |first1=Holger |last2=Notholt |first2=Justus |last3=König-Langlo |first3=Gert |last4=Lemke |first4=Peter |last5=Jung |first5=Thomas |date=16 December 2015 |title=How increasing {{CO2}} leads to an increased negative greenhouse effect in Antarctica |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |language=en |volume=42 |issue=23 |doi=10.1002/2015GL066749 |issn=0094-8276 |s2cid=131351000 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="sejas">{{cite journal |last1=Sejas |first1=S.A. |last2=Taylor |first2=P. C. |last3=Cai |first3=M. |date=2018 |title=Unmasking the negative greenhouse effect over the Antarctic Plateau |journal=npj Clim Atmos Sci |volume=1 |issue=17 |page=17 |doi=10.1038/s41612-018-0031-y |pmc=7580794 |pmid=33102742|bibcode=2018npCAS...1...17S }}</ref>