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Albedo (/ æ l ˈ b iː d oʊ / al-BEE-doh; from Latin albedo 'whiteness') is the fraction of sunlight that is diffusely reflected by a body. It is measured on a scale from 0 (corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation) to 1 (corresponding to a body that reflects all incident radiation).
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 ...
In astronomy, the geometric albedo of a celestial body is the ratio of its actual brightness as seen from the light source (i.e. at zero phase angle) ...
The calculation requires the Bond albedo (the proportion of total incoming power reflected, taking into account all directions), while the IRAS and MSX albedo data that is available for asteroids gives only the geometric albedo which characterises only the strength of light reflected back to the source (the Sun).
The law was formulated by Josef Stefan in 1879 and later derived by Ludwig Boltzmann. The formula E = σT 4 is given, where E is the radiant heat emitted from a unit of area per unit time, T is the absolute temperature, and σ = 5.670 367 × 10 −8 W·m −2 ⋅K −4 is the Stefan–Boltzmann constant. [28]
Cloud albedo is a measure of the albedo or reflectivity of a cloud. Clouds regulate the amount of solar radiation absorbed by a planet and its solar surface irradiance . Generally, increased cloud cover correlates to a higher albedo and a lower absorption of solar energy .
In meteorology and climatology, global and local temperatures depend in part on the absorption of radiation by atmospheric gases (such as in the greenhouse effect) and land and ocean surfaces (see albedo). In medicine, X-rays are absorbed to different extents by different tissues (bone in particular), which is the basis for X-ray imaging.
As the difference in albedo between ice and e.g. ocean is around 2/3, this means that due to a 1 °C rise, the albedo will drop by 2%*2/3 = 4/3%. However this will mainly happen in northern and southern latitudes, around 60 degrees off the equator, and so the effective area is actually 2% * cos(60 o ) = 1%, and the global albedo drop would be 2/3%.