159k views
1 vote
At 12:30 pm on august 2, the surface receives 789 wm−2 and reflects 110 wm−2. what is the surface albedo?

User Contina
by
7.8k points

1 Answer

1 vote
Albedo is the fraction of light that is reflected by a surface. Normally we use the term albedo to describe how reflective a planet or moon is. The albedo is on a scale from 0 to 1 with no units. An albedo of 0 means total absorption. An albedo of 1 means total reflection. To find the albedo, we divide the amount reflected by the total amount received. albedo = amount reflected / amount received albedo = 110 wm-2 / 789 wm-2 albedo = 0.139 The surface albedo is 0.139
User Rmunn
by
8.1k points