What is ‘Albedo’?

BRY2K

The word albedo is a general term for the ratio of reflected/scattered power to incident power, it is also called then reflection coefficient. Latin for white, it is commonly applied to the overall average reflection coefficient of an object. For example, the albedo of the Earth is 0.39 and this affects the equilibrium temperature of the Earth. The greenhouse effect, by trapping infrared radiation, can lower the albedo of the earth and cause global warming. The albedo of an object will determine its visual brightness when viewed with reflected light. For example, the planets are viewed by reflected sunlight and their brightness depends upon the amount of light received from the sun and their albedo. Mercury receives the maximum amount of sunlight, but its albedo is only 0.1 so it is not as bright as it would be with a higher albedo. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/phyopt/albedo.html http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/Albedo.html Apr 30 08, 8:43 PM

author

Yes. Or said in simple English: The albedo of an object is the extent to which it reflects light, defined as the ratio of reflected to incident electromagnetic radiation. It is a unitless measure indicative of a surface's or body's diffuse reflectivity. The word is derived from albus, a Latin word for "white". http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albedo Apr 30 08, 10:13 PM