ALBEDO

ălbēˈdō, reflectivity of the surface of a planet, moon, asteroid, or other celestial body that does not shine by its own light. Albedo is measured as the fraction of incident light that the surface reflects back in all directions. A perfect reflector by definition has an albedo of unity, i.e., all the incident light is reflected; a body that reflects no light at all would have an albedo of zero. Real surfaces have albedos between these values. The albedos of planets, moons, and asteroids provide valuable information about the structure and composition of their surfaces. The dark regions on the earth's moon give it the very low average albedo of 0.07, while highly reflective clouds give Venus an albedo of 0.85, the highest of any body in the solar system.

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The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright© 2004, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. All rights reserved.

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Questia Books and Articles on: Albedo
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books on: Albedo  - 332 results

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1.
Compendium of Meteorology
Book by Thomas F. Malone; American Meteorological Society, 1951
Subjects: Meteorology
...I 0 ; that parameter is the earths albedo. From the meteorological viewpoint, the...below and above the cloud, and since the albedos of clouds vary appreciably over short...cover, a good estimate can be made of the albedo of the ground; or if the ceiling is not...
2.
Climates and Weather Explained
Book by Edward Linacre, Bart Geerts; Routledge, 1997
...2.5 Albedo...36 2.5 Albedo...theoretically possible there. 2.5 ALBEDO Some of the shortwave radiation reaching...
3.
A Dictionary of Astronomy
Book by Ian Ridpath; Oxford University Press, 1997
Subjects: Astronomy--Dictionaries
...asteroid that has both a moderately high albedo 0.13-0.35 and an extremely reddish...al-Battani See under BATTANI. albedo The fraction of the total light or...is reflected from it. In general, the albedo is equal to the amount of light reflected...
4.
Astronomy: A Revision of Young's Manual of Astronomy - Vol. 1
Book by Henry Norris Russell, Raymond Smith Dugan, John Quincy Stewart; Ginn, 1926
Subjects: Astronomy, Solar System
5.
Atmosphere, Weather, and Climate
Book by Roger G. Barry, Richard J. Chorley; Routledge, 1998
Subjects: Atmospheric Physics, Climatology, Meteorology
...greenhouse gases and volcanic dust, sunspot activity, albedo, satellite measurements of the planetary energy budget...see Chapter 2C). Aerosols may lower the planetary albedo above a high-albedo desert or snow surface but increase it over an ocean...
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journal articles on: Albedo  - 37 results

       More journal Results: 1-10 11-20 21-30 31-37 >>  
 
1.
Prospects for Scientific Visualization as an Educational Technology
Journal article by Douglas N. Gordin, Roy D. Pea; Journal of the Learning Sciences, Vol. 4, 1995
Subjects: Education--United States, Learning
...Now we may examine a SciV of the Earths albedo (i.e., the reflectivity of the Earths...blue to white to dark red. The values of albedo can range from 0 to 100, where 100 means...than their surrounding oceans. The high albedo (shown as bright red in Figure 4) of the...
2.
Statistical Properties and Uses of the Wavelet Variance Estimator for the Scale Analysis of Time Series
Journal article by A. Serroukh, A. T. Walden, D. B. Percival; Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 95, 2000
Subjects: Statistics, Statistics (Data), Statistics (Mathematics), Time series analysis--Research, Time-series analysis--Research
...scientifically important series, the surface albedo of pack ice (a strongly non-Gaussian series...analyzes the scale properties of the surface albedo of pack ice, a strongly non-Gaussian series...even when N = 256. 5. NON-GAUSSIAN ALBEDO OF PACK ICE Figure 3(a) plots the surface...
3.
A Model for the Energetic-Economic Optimization of Office Buildings
Journal article by Abraham Yezioro, Isaac Guedi Capeluto; Architectural Science Review, Vol. 50, 2007
Subjects: Energy management systems--Methods, Energy management--Methods, Interior lighting--Methods, Office buildings--Australia, Office buildings--Design and construction, Office buildings--Energy use, Office buildings--Models, Work environment--Evaluation, Working conditions--Evaluation
...6 Albedo/Color Al 4...polystyrene 6 Albedo/Color 0.45, 0.65, 0.85, WGL...the window. On this case, the albedo will be referred...
4.
Polar Apocalypse in Coleridge and Poe
Journal article by Eric G. Wilson; Wordsworth Circle, Vol. 35, 2004
Subjects: Coleridge, Samuel Taylor--Criticism and interpretation, Literature--Criticism and interpretation, Poe, Edgar Allan--Criticism and interpretation, Polar regions--Portrayals
...track Pyms development from nigredo to albedo. The black stage of the alchemical work...it is ready to leap to a new stage, the albedo, the white. When Pym transmutes from the...inseparable and undifferentiated, in the albedo state the contraries crystallize--freeze...
5.
Climate Change and Human Health Impacts in the United States: An Update on the Results of the U.S. National Assessment
Journal article by Kristie L. Ebi, David M. Mills, Joel B. Smith, Anne Grambsch; Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 114, 2006
Subjects: Air pollution, United States. Environmental Protection Agency
...2002) found modeling changes in urban albedo and vegetative cover both increased and...heights following the implementation of albedo and vegetation changes designed to address...1997. Modeling the impacts of large-scale albedo changes on ozone air quality in the South...
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magazine articles on: Albedo  - 21 results

       More magazine Results: 1-10 11-20 21-21 >>  
 
1.
No Escape: There's Global Warming on Mars Too
Magazine article by S. Perkins; Science News, Vol. 171, April 7, 2007
Subjects: Global warming--Reports, Mars (Planet)--Environmental aspects, Mars (Planet)--Observations
...brightness of an object is characterized by its albedo, the percentage of light thats reflected...radiation and get hotter than light ones do, albedo changes on Earth in arctic regions may...in the late 1970s, measured the planets albedo at latitudes up to about 60degrees in...
2.
Climatic Engineering
Magazine article by Fred C. Ikle, Lowell Wood; The National Interest, January 2008
Subjects: Environmental management--Political aspects, Environmental policy--Interpretation and construction, Environmental policy--Social aspects, Environmental protection--Political aspects, Global warming--Political aspects, Human beings--Evaluation, Human beings--Influence on nature, Human-environment interactions--Evaluation, Nature conservation--Political aspects, Nature conservation--Social aspects
...would increase by a few percent the Earths albedo--the ratio of incoming sunlight reflected...varies the local values of the Earths albedo by substantial amounts, with clouds being...stratosphere, where they increase the albedo until theyre slowly removed by natural...
3.
The Taming of the Dunes
Magazine article by Jose Navarro; Geographical, Vol. 73, September 2001
Subjects: Desertification--Control, Mali--Environmental aspects
...villages along the escarpment is aggravated by the low albedo of the area. The albedo is the degree to which short-wave solar radiation...sun is reflected from the surface of plants. Low albedo means higher temperatures at ground-level and progressive...
4.
Climate at the Bottom of the Grand Canyon
Magazine article by Diane Stanitski-Martin, Melvin G. Marcus, Anthony J. Brazel, Nancy J. Selover, Randall S. Cerveny; Focus, Vol. 45, Winter 1999
Subjects: Climatology--Research, Grand Canyon--Natural history
...riverside vegetative reflectivity (or albedo) account for large variations in the regions...and canyon use; a seasonal increase in albedo means a corresponding reduction in absorptivity...desert varnish covering exposed rocks, albedo changes dependent upon changing soil moisture...
5.
Ice over Earth
Magazine article by Marc J. Defant; World and I, Vol. 16, November 2001
Subjects: Geology, Stratigraphic--Research, Glacial epoch--Research, Ice age--Research, Stratigraphy--Research
...argument continues. Snow and ice have a high albedo--that is, they extensively reflect sunlight...glaciation, and more glaciation increases the albedo. Based on the model, he proposed that...mass distribution and included the ice-albedo effect and the luminosity of the Sun...
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newspaper articles on: Albedo  - 3 results

 
 
1.
Not All Scientists Agree on Human Impact on Climate
Newspaper article; The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), January 29, 2006
...fertilizers and fossil fuel combustion. Albedo: The ratio of light from the sun that...light received by it. Surfaces with a high albedo, such as snow and ice, generally contribute to cooling, whereas surfaces with a low albedo, such as forests, generally contribute...
2.
Earth 'Is in Imminent Peril from Sea Level Rise'
Newspaper article; The Evening Standard (London, England), June 19, 2007
Subjects: Global warming
...dangerous rise in global temperatures. Otherwise, climate change will trigger rapid melting of polar ice sheets, worsened by the "albedo flip" when sunlight which is currently affected by the ice caps white surface is absorbed by the darker surface of water. The...
3.
Earth 'Is in Imminent Peril from Sea Level Rise'
Newspaper article; The Evening Standard (London, England), June 19, 2007
Subjects: Global warming
...dangerous rise in global temperatures. Otherwise, climate change will trigger rapid melting of polar ice sheets, worsened by the "albedo flip" when sunlight which is currently affected by the ice caps white surface is absorbed by the darker surface of water. The...


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encyclopedia articles on: Albedo  - 3 results

 
 
1.
Albedo
Encyclopedia article; The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2009
ALBEDO albe do, reflectivity of the surface of a planet, moon...other celestial body that does not shine by its own light. Albedo is measured as the fraction of incident light that the...all directions. A perfect reflector by definition has an albedo of unity, i.e., all the incident light is reflected; a...
2.
Asteroid
Encyclopedia article; The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2009
...orbit of Mars. Centaurs are asteroids with orbits in the outer solar system. Asteroids are also classified by composition and albedo , most being one of three types. The majority (C-type) are similar to carbon-chrondite meteorites with approximately the same...
3.
Moon
Encyclopedia article; The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2009
...from flat to gently undulating, are covered by a thin layer of powdered rock that darkens them and accounts for the moons low albedo (only 7% of the incident sunlight is reflected back, the rest being absorbed). The brighter regions on the moon are the mountainous...


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