Environmental lapse rate is the measure of the rate of temperature increase with height in the atmosphere at a specific time and location.

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The statement asserts that the Environmental Lapse Rate is the rate of temperature increase with height in the atmosphere at a specific time and location.
In reality, a lapse rate refers to the rate at which temperature decreases with increasing altitude, not increases. The Environmental Lapse Rate (ELR) describes how the air temperature changes with height in the actual atmosphere at a given time and place, but the defining sign is a cooling with height (temperature typically drops as you go higher, roughly ~6.5°C per kilometer in the troposphere under standard conditions).
Because the concept involves a temperature decrease with altitude, the claim that it measures a temperature increase is incorrect. The ELR can vary with weather conditions and can even be momentarily positive in extremely stable or inverted conditions, but its fundamental meaning is a rate of temperature decrease with height, not an increase.
Additionally, the statement mentions "at a specific time and location"; while ELR does indeed reflect local atmospheric conditions at a given time and place, this nuance does not make the description correct since the core definition is about decreasing temperature with height, not increasing.
Thus, the assertion mischaracterizes the direction of the lapse rate and is not consistent with standard atmospheric science terminology.

CLMTGR5001_002_2025_3 - Dynamics of Climate Variability and Chan PRACTICE QUIZ: Week 3 Lecture 3

Environmental lapse rate is the measure of the rate of temperature increase with height in the atmosphere at a specific time and location.

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