Final answer:
Cleared land typically has a higher albedo than forested land due to lighter colored surfaces reflecting more sunlight. Human activities like deforestation and urbanization can contribute to regional changes in Earth's albedo.
Step-by-step explanation:
Cleared land has a higher albedo than forested land. The term albedo refers to the fraction of solar energy (shortwave radiation) that is reflected from the Earth back into space. It is a reflection coefficient, and is dimensionless and measured on a scale from zero (for no reflection) to one (for perfect reflection).
When land is cleared of forests, the underlying surface usually becomes lighter in color and thus has a higher albedo, meaning a greater percentage of sunlight is reflected back into space rather than absorbed. This is because light-colored objects and surfaces, like sand or cleared soil, tend to reflect more sunlight than darker objects and surfaces, like the dense foliage of forests.
Human activities such as deforestation and urbanization frequently contribute to increases in Earth's albedo in the regions where these changes occur. This leads to a greater amount of sunlight being reflected away from the Earth, rather than being absorbed by the dark-colored forest cover. The increased reflection can have significant climatic effects regionally, though these effects are less pronounced when considering the entire globe.