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The average albedo of Earth is about 0.3. [15] This is far higher than for the ocean primarily because of the contribution of clouds. Earth's surface albedo is regularly estimated via Earth observation satellite sensors such as NASA's MODIS instruments on board the Terra and Aqua satellites, and the CERES instrument on the Suomi NPP and JPSS.
The Bond albedo is a value strictly between 0 and 1, as it includes all possible scattered light (but not radiation from the body itself). This is in contrast to other definitions of albedo such as the geometric albedo, which can be above 1. In general, though, the Bond albedo may be greater or smaller than the geometric albedo, depending on ...
Called the albedo of Earth, around 35 units in this example are directly reflected back to space: 27 from the top of clouds, 2 from snow and ice-covered areas, and 6 by other parts of the atmosphere. The 65 remaining units (ASR = 220 W/m 2) are absorbed: 14 within the atmosphere and 51 by the Earth's surface.
Cloud albedo strongly influences the Earth's energy budget, accounting for approximately half of Earth's albedo. [1] [2] Cloud albedo is influenced by the conditions of cloud formation and variations in cloud albedo depend on the total mass of water, the size and shape of the droplets or particles and their distribution in space. [3]
Earth has an albedo of about 0.306 and a solar irradiance (L / 4 π D 2) of 1361 W m −2 at its mean orbital radius of 1.5×10 8 km. The calculation with ε=1 and remaining physical constants then gives an Earth effective temperature of 254 K (−19 °C). [11] The actual temperature of Earth's surface is an average 288 K (15 °C) as of 2020. [12]
Earth's albedo varies by a factor of 6, from 0.12 in the cloud-free case to 0.76 in the case of altostratus cloud. The absolute magnitude in the table corresponds to an albedo of 0.434. Due to the variability of the weather, Earth's apparent magnitude cannot be predicted as accurately as that of most other planets. [20]
The reflected fraction is known as Earth's bond albedo (R), is evaluated at the top of the atmosphere, and has an average annual global value of about 0.30 (30%). The overall fraction of solar power absorbed by Earth is then (1−R) or 0.70 (70%).
The album title refers to the average albedo value of the planet Earth as it was calculated in 1976 (the current value is 0.30). From the explanation on the back of the LP cover : "The reflecting power of a planet or other non-luminous body. A perfect reflector would have an Albedo of 100%. The Earth's Albedo is 39%, or 0.39". [4]