- Albedo
The albedo of an object is the extent to which it diffusely reflects light from the sun. It is therefore a more specific form of the term
reflectivity . Albedo is defined asthe ratio of diffusely reflected to incidentelectromagnetic radiation . It is a unitless measure indicative of a surface's or body's diffusereflectivity . The word is derived fromLatin "albedo" "whiteness", in turn from "albus" "white". The range of possible values is from 0 (dark) to 1 (bright).The albedo is an important concept in
climatology andastronomy . In climatology it is sometimes expressed as a percentage. Its value depends on thefrequency of radiation considered: unqualified, it usually refers to some appropriate average across the spectrum ofvisible light . In general, the albedo depends on the direction and directional distribution of incoming radiation. Exceptions areLambertian surfaces, which scatter radiation in all directions in a cosine function, so their albedo does not depend on the incoming distribution. In realistic cases, abidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) is required to characterize the scattering properties of a surface accurately, although albedos are a very useful first approximation.Terrestrial albedo
Albedos of typical materials in visible light range from up to 90% for fresh snow, to about 4% for charcoal, one of the darkest substances. Deeply shadowed cavities can achieve an effective albedo approaching the zero of a blackbody. When seen from a distance, the ocean surface has a low albedo, as do most forests, while desert areas have some of the highest albedos among landforms. Most land areas are in an albedo range of 0.1 to 0.4. [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/Albedo.html Albedo - from Eric Weisstein's World of Physics ] ] The average albedo of the
Earth is about 30%. [cite journal |last=Goode |first=P. R. |authorlink= |coauthors="et al." |year=2001 |month= |title=Earthshine Observations of the Earth’s Reflectance |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |volume=28 |issue=9 |pages=1671–1674 |id= |url=http://www.agu.org/journals/ABS/2001/2000GL012580.shtml |accessdate= |quote=|doi=10.1029/2000GL012580 ] This is far higher than for the ocean primarily because of the contribution of clouds.Human activities have changed the albedo (via forest clearance and farming, for example) of various areas around the globe. However, quantification of this effect is difficult on the global scale.
The classic example of albedo effect is the snow-temperature feedback. If a snow covered area warms and the snow melts, the albedo decreases, more sunlight is absorbed, and the temperature tends to increase. The converse is true: if snow forms, a cooling cycle happens. The intensity of the albedo effect depends on the size of the change in albedo and the amount of
insolation ; for this reason it can be potentially very large in the tropics.The Earth's surface albedo is regularly estimated via
Earth observation satellite sensors such asNASA 'sMODIS instruments onboard the Terra and Aqua satellites. As the total amount of reflected radiation cannot be directly measured by satellite, amathematical model of the BRDF is used to translate a sample set of satellite reflectance measurements into estimates ofdirectional-hemispherical reflectance and bi-hemispherical reflectance.White-sky and black-sky albedo
It has been shown that for many applications involving terrestrial albedo, the albedo at a particular solar zenith angle can reasonably be approximated by the proportionate sum of two terms: the directional-hemispherical reflectance at that solar zenith angle, , and the bi-hemispherical reflectance, the proportion concerned being defined as the proportion of diffuse illumination .
Albedo can then be given as:
:
Directional-hemispherical reflectance is sometimes referred to as black-sky albedo andbi-hemispherical reflectance as white sky albedo. These terms are important because they allow the albedo to be calculated for any given illumination conditions from a knowledge of the intrinsic properties of the surface.Astronomical albedo
The albedo of
planet s, satellites andasteroid s can be used to infer much about their properties. The study of albedos, their dependence on wavelength, lighting angle ("phase angle"), and variation in time comprises a major part of the astronomical field of photometry. For small and far objects that cannot be resolved by telescopes, much of what we know comes from the study of their albedos. For example, the absolute albedo can indicate the surface ice content of outer solar system objects, the variation of albedo with phase angle gives information aboutregolith properties, while unusually high radar albedo is indicative of high metallic content inasteroid s.Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, has one of the highest known albedos of any body in the solar system, with 99% of EM radiation reflected. Another notable high albedo body is Eris, with an albedo of 86%. Many objects in the outer solar system and
asteroid belt have low albedos down to about 5%.cite web
date=2003-06-28
title=Asteroid albedos: graphs of data
publisher=Johnston's Archive
author=Wm. Robert Johnston
url=http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/astalbedo.html
accessdate=2008-06-16] Such a dark surface is thought to be indicative of a primitive and heavily space weathered surface containing someorganic compound s.The overall albedo of the
Moon is around 7%, but it is strongly directional and non-Lambertian, displaying also a strong opposition effect. [http://jeff.medkeff.com/astro/lunar/obs_tech/albedo.htm A discussion of Lunar albedos] While such reflectance properties are different from those of any terrestrial terrains, they are typical of theregolith surfaces of airless solar system bodies.Two common albedos that are used in astronomy are the
geometric albedo (measuring brightness when illumination comes from directly behind the observer) and theBond albedo (measuring total proportion of electromagnetic energy reflected). Their values can differ significantly, which is a common source of confusion.In detailed studies, the directional reflectance properties of astronomical bodies are often expressed in terms of the five
Hapke parameters which semi-empirically describe the variation of albedo with phase angle, including a characterization of theopposition effect ofregolith surfaces.The correlation between astronomical (geometric) albedo, absolute magnitude and diameter iscite web
title=Conversion of Absolute Magnitude to Diameter for Minor Planets
publisher=Department of Physics & Astronomy (Stephen F. Austin State University)
author=Dan Bruton
url=http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/asteroids/sizemagnitude.html
accessdate=2008-10-07 ] :,where is astronomical albedo, is diameter in kilometres, and "H" is the absolute magnitude.
Other types of albedo
Single scattering albedo - is used to define scattering of electromagnetic waves on small particles. It depends on properties of the material (refractive index ), the size of the particle(s), and the wavelength of the incoming radiation.ome examples of terrestrial albedo effects
The tropics
Although the albedo-temperature effect is most famous in colder regions of Earth, because more
snow falls there, it is actually much stronger in tropical regions because in the tropics there is consistently more sunlight. When ranchers cut down dark, tropicalrainforest trees to replace them with even darker soil in order to grow crops, the average temperature of the area increases up to 3 °C (5.4 °F) year-round, [Dickinson, R. E., and P. J. Kennedy, 1992: "Impacts on regional climate of Amazon deforestation". Geophys. Res. Lett., 19, 1947–1950.] [ [http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2006/final/characterization/abiotic_water.html http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2006/final/characterization/abiotic_water.html] Project Amazonia: Characterization - Abiotic - Water] although part of the effect is due to changed evaporation (latent heat flux).mall scale effects
Albedo works on a smaller scale, too. People who wear dark clothes in the summertime put themselves at a greater risk of
heatstroke than those who wear lighter color clothes. [ [http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/h&s0897.html Health and Safety: Be Cool! (8/97) ] ]Trees
Because trees tend to have a low albedo, removing forests would tend to increase albedo and thereby could produce localized climate cooling.
Cloud feedback s further complicate the issue. In seasonally snow-covered zones, winter albedos of treeless areas are 10% to 50% higher than nearby forested areas because snow does not cover the trees as readily.Deciduous trees have an albedo value of about 0.15 to 0.18 whileconiferous trees have a value of about 0.09 to 0.15.cite web | url=http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/Resources/gcc/1-3-3.html | title=The Climate System | publisher=Manchester Metropolitan University | accessdate=2007-11-11] The difference between deciduous and coniferous is because coniferous trees are darker in general and have cone-shaped crowns. The shape of these crowns trap radiant energy more effectively than deciduous trees.Studies by the
Hadley Centre have investigated the relative (generally warming) effect of albedo change and (cooling) effect ofcarbon sequestration on planting forests. They found that new forests in tropical and midlatitude areas tended to cool; new forests in high latitudes (e.g. Siberia) were neutral or perhaps warming. [Betts, R.A. (2000) "Offset of the potential carbon sink from boreal forestation by decreases in surface albedo", Nature, Volume 408, Issue 6809, pp. 187-190.]now
Snow albedos can be as high as 90%; this, however, is for the ideal example: fresh deep snow over a featureless landscape. Over
Antarctica they average a little more than 80%. If a marginally snow-covered area warms, snow tends to melt, lowering the albedo, and hence leading to more snowmelt (the ice-albedopositive feedback ).Water
Water reflects light very differently from typical terrestrial materials. The reflectivity of a water surface is calculated using the
Fresnel equations (see graph).At the scale of the wavelength of light even wavy water is always smooth so the light is reflected in a specular manner (not diffusely). The glint of light off water is a commonplace effect of this. At small angles of incident light, waviness results in reduced reflectivity (from as high as 100%) because of the steepness of the reflectivity-vs.-incident-angle curve and a locally increased average incident angle. [http://lenah.freeshell.org/pp/01-ONW-St.Petersburg/Fresnel.pdf]Although the reflectivity of water is very low at high and medium angles of incident light, it increases tremendously at small angles of incident light such as occur on the illuminated side of the earth near the terminator (early morning, late afternoon and near the poles). However, as mentioned above, waviness causes an appreciable reduction. Since the light specularly reflected from water does not usually reach the viewer, water is usually considered to have a very low albedo in spite of its high reflectivity at low angles of incident light.
Note that white caps on waves look white (and have high albedo) because the water is foamed up (not smooth at the scale of the wavelength of light) so the Fresnel equations do not apply. Fresh ‘black’ ice exhibits Fresnel reflection.
Clouds
Clouds are another source of albedo that play into the global warming equation. Different types of clouds have different albedo values, theoretically ranging from a minimum of near 0% to a maximum in the high 70s. "On any given day, about half of Earth is covered by clouds, which reflect more sunlight than land and water. Clouds keep Earth cool by reflecting sunlight, but they can also serve as blankets to trap warmth." [ [http://www.livescience.com/environment/060124_earth_albedo.html Baffled Scientists Say Less Sunlight Reaching Earth | LiveScience ] ]
Albedo and climate in some areas are already affected by artificial clouds, such as those created by the
contrail s of heavy commercial airliner traffic. [http://facstaff.uww.edu/travisd/pdf/jetcontrailsrecentresearch.pdf] A study following the burning of the Kuwaiti oil fields bySaddam Hussein showed that temperatures under the burning oil fires were as much as 10oC colder than temperatures several miles away under clear skies. [ [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992JGR....9714565C The Kuwait oil fires as seen by Landsat ] ]Aerosol effects
Aerosol (very fine particles/droplets in the atmosphere) has two effects, direct and indirect. The direct (albedo) effect is generally to cool the planet; the indirect effect (the particles act as CCNs and thereby change
cloud properties ) is less certain. [ [http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/231.htm#671 Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis ] ]Black carbon
Another albedo-related effect on the climate is from black carbon particles. The size of this effect is difficult to quantify: the
IPCC say that their "estimate of the global mean radiative forcing for BC aerosols from fossil fuels is ... +0.2 W m-2 (from +0.1 W m-2 in the SAR) with a range +0.1 to +0.4 W m...-2". [ [http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/233.htm Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis ] ]ee also
*
Global dimming
*Irradiance
*Insolation References
External links
* [http://www.eoearth.org/article/Albedo Albedo - Encyclopedia of Earth]
* [http://lpdaac.usgs.gov/modis/mod43b1.asp NASA MODIS Terra BRDF/albedo product site]
* [http://www-modis.bu.edu/brdf/product.html NASA MODIS BRDF/albedo product site]
* [http://www.eumetsat.int/Home/Main/Access_to_Data/Meteosat_Meteorological_Products/Product_List/SP_1125489019643?l=en Surface albedo derived from Meteosat observations]
* [http://jeff.medkeff.com/astro/lunar/obs_tech/albedo.htm A discussion of Lunar albedos]
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