Albedo is known as surface reflectivity of sun’s radiation. The term has its
origins from a Latin word albus, meaning “white”. It is quantified as the
proportion, or percentage of solar
radiation of all wavelengths reflected by a body or surface to the amount
incident upon it. An ideal white body has an albedo of 100% and an ideal black
body, 0%. The typical amounts of solar radiation reflected from various objects
are shown in Table 1. Albedo values can range between 3% for water at small
zenith angles to over 95% for fresh snow. On average the Earth and its atmosphere typically reflect about 4% and
26%, respectively, of the sun’s incoming radiation back to space over the course
of one year. As a result, the earth-atmosphere system has a combined albedo of
about 30%, a number highly dependent on the local surface makeup, cover, and cloud distribution.