Question: Which one of the following land surfaces has the highest albedo?
Options:
A snow covered mountain
A barren rocky piedmont surface
A sandy desert
A mangrove forest
🔑Key Points:
-Albedo (al-bee-doh) is a measure of how much light that hits a surface is reflected without being absorbed.
-Albedo is a non-dimensional, unitless quantity that indicates how well a surface reflects solar energy.
-Something that appears white reflects most of the light that hits it and has a high albedo, while something that looks dark absorbs most of the light that hits it, indicating a low albedo.
-Albedo generally applies to visible light, although it may involve some of the infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
-Sea ice has a much higher albedo compared to other Earth surfaces, such as the surrounding ocean.