the.com/albedo
the universe's report card on how much sunlight a surface bothers to bounce back
means Albedo is the fraction of incoming light a surface reflects rather than absorbs, expressed from 0 (perfectly black) to 1 (perfectly white).
from Straight from Latin albedo, "whiteness," built on albus, "white" — the same root that whitens albino, albumen (egg white), and the bleached cliffs of Albion. Astronomers borrowed the word in the 18th century to measure exactly how white, or how dark, a world really is.
- fresh snow
- Reflects up to 90 percent of incoming sunlight
- dark ocean
- Absorbs nearly all light, just 6 percent bounces
- feedback loop
- Melting ice darkens Earth, warming it faster
- the moon
- Albedo near 0.12, darker than worn asphalt
- latin root
- From albus, meaning white, like albino
moon's surface albedo — lunar regolith reflects about 12% of sunlight, much darker than fresh snow at 90%
venus atmosphere — reflects ~70% of sunlight, making it the brightest planet despite being farther than mercury
earth's polar ice sheets — arctic sea ice and antarctic ice sheets reflect 80-90%, critical to planetary energy balance
sahara desert dust — increases regional albedo to 35-40%, affecting monsoon patterns across west africa