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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.
In planetary geology, an albedo feature is a large area on the surface of a planet (or other Solar System body) which shows a contrast in brightness or darkness with adjacent areas. Historically, albedo features were the first (and usually only) features to be seen and named on Mars and Mercury .
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's surface is the boundary between the atmosphere, and the solid Earth and oceans. Defined in this way, it has an area of about 510 million km 2 (197 million sq mi). [12] Earth can be divided into two hemispheres: by latitude into the polar Northern and Southern hemispheres; or by longitude into the continental Eastern and Western hemispheres.
The Bond albedo (also called spheric albedo, planetary albedo, and bolometric albedo), named after the American astronomer George Phillips Bond (1825–1865), who originally proposed it, is the fraction of power in the total electromagnetic radiation incident on an astronomical body that is scattered back out into space.
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]
Ice–albedo feedback is a climate change feedback, where a change in the area of ice caps, glaciers, and sea ice alters the albedo and surface temperature of a planet. Because ice is very reflective, it reflects far more solar energy back to space than open water or any other land cover. [1] It occurs on Earth, and can also occur on exoplanets ...
All clouds contribute to an increased albedo, however some clouds have a net warming effect because they trap more heat than they reflect, while others have a net cooling effect because their increased albedo reflects more radiation than they trap heat. So while the Earth's albedo is measurably increasing, the uncertainty over the amount of ...