albedo, definition of

The fraction of the total solar radiation incident on a body that is reflected by it. Albedo can be expressed as either a percentage or a fraction of 1.

• Nature Turns Up The Sunshine
  Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach (@WEschenbach on X, my personal blog is here) For the usual unknown reasons that are so common in my life, I got to thinking about…
• Calculating Earth’s Albedo, Part 2
  What is the best way to computed Earth's albedo from CERES EBAF data.
• Eye Roller Study: Burned forest areas have faster snowmelt
  No tree canopy means more sunlight reaches the ground.... Well....DUH!"
• The hidden impact of polluted snow
  Black carbon soot has surprising new effects in snow.
• Study: Earth’s growing heat imbalance – it’s the clouds and natural climate variability
  Understanding this hemispheric “balancing act” helps society focus on the true forces behind global warming—changes in cloud behavior linked to surface warming and natural climate variability
• Can Annual Irradiance = Annual Enthalpy? If So, What Does It Show About Climate Change
  This mathematical exercise was done to see how close calculated irradiance would come to measured irradiance and to prove that climate models using enthalpy instead of radiation or irradiation were valid.  (The CRGW (3) model is a enthalpy based model). ...
• If So, What Does It Show About Climate Change
  This mathematical exercise was done to see how close calculated irradiance would come to measured irradiance and to prove that climate models using enthalpy instead of radiation or irradiation were valid.  (The CRGW (3) model is a enthalpy based model). ...
• BOMBSHELL: Study Reveals Climate Warming Driven by Receding Cloud Cover
  If climate science were a functioning scientific discipline rather than a priesthood, this paper would trigger a major course correction. It would cast doubt on the simplistic link between CO₂ and warming, redirecting focus toward cloud physics, ocean-atmosphere...
• James Hansen: Climate Cassandra or Science Salesman?
  Hansen’s argument structure is fundamentally circular: he assumes a high-sensitivity system, interprets ambiguous data to reinforce that view, and then treats the match as confirmation...
• The Continuing Albedo Change Warms the Earth More Than Twice as Much as CO2
  All life on Earth (somehow) originates from the Sun's heat. But how much of the solar irradiation reaches us Earthlings?

Related Tags: environment

The ratio of reflected to incident light; albedo can be expressed as either a percentage or a fraction of 1. Snow covered areas have a high albedo (up to about 0.9 or 90%) due to their white color, while vegetation has a low albedo (generally about 0.1 or 10%) due to the dark color and light absorbed for photosynthesis. Clouds have an intermediate albedo and are the most important contributor to the Earth's albedo. The Earth's aggregate albedo is approximately 0.3.

• Nature Turns Up The Sunshine
  Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach (@WEschenbach on X, my personal blog is here) For the usual unknown reasons that are so common in my life, I got to thinking about…
• Calculating Earth’s Albedo, Part 2
  What is the best way to computed Earth's albedo from CERES EBAF data.
• Eye Roller Study: Burned forest areas have faster snowmelt
  No tree canopy means more sunlight reaches the ground.... Well....DUH!"
• The hidden impact of polluted snow
  Black carbon soot has surprising new effects in snow.
• Study: Earth’s growing heat imbalance – it’s the clouds and natural climate variability
  Understanding this hemispheric “balancing act” helps society focus on the true forces behind global warming—changes in cloud behavior linked to surface warming and natural climate variability
• Can Annual Irradiance = Annual Enthalpy? If So, What Does It Show About Climate Change
  This mathematical exercise was done to see how close calculated irradiance would come to measured irradiance and to prove that climate models using enthalpy instead of radiation or irradiation were valid.  (The CRGW (3) model is a enthalpy based model). ...
• If So, What Does It Show About Climate Change
  This mathematical exercise was done to see how close calculated irradiance would come to measured irradiance and to prove that climate models using enthalpy instead of radiation or irradiation were valid.  (The CRGW (3) model is a enthalpy based model). ...
• BOMBSHELL: Study Reveals Climate Warming Driven by Receding Cloud Cover
  If climate science were a functioning scientific discipline rather than a priesthood, this paper would trigger a major course correction. It would cast doubt on the simplistic link between CO₂ and warming, redirecting focus toward cloud physics, ocean-atmosphere...
• James Hansen: Climate Cassandra or Science Salesman?
  Hansen’s argument structure is fundamentally circular: he assumes a high-sensitivity system, interprets ambiguous data to reinforce that view, and then treats the match as confirmation...
• The Continuing Albedo Change Warms the Earth More Than Twice as Much as CO2
  All life on Earth (somehow) originates from the Sun's heat. But how much of the solar irradiation reaches us Earthlings?

Related Tags: climate change, global warming, environment