Which point on earth has the highest albedo

At the North Pole, reflectivity decreased markedly, a result of the declining sea ice on the Arctic Ocean and increasing dust and soot on top of the ice. Around the South Pole, reflectivity is down around West Antarctica and up slightly in parts of East Antarctica, but there is no net gain or loss. At the same time, Antarctic sea ice there has been increasing slightly each year.

But as more years of data accumulated, and as scientists began to better understand the data, they found that albedo was neither increasing nor declining over time. It was fluctuating a lot by year, though. Ice cover, cloud cover, and the amount of airborne particles—aerosols from pollution, volcanoes, and dust storms—can change reflectivity on scales from days to years. Caption by Mike Carlowicz. The global picture of how Earth reflects sunlight is a muddle, though several regional trends emerge.

The CERES FM6 instrument measures the solar energy absorbed and reflected by Earth, the heat the planet emits into space, and the role of clouds in that process.

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water. At higher and higher altitudes, the atmosphere becomes so thin that it essentially ceases to exist.

Gradually, the atmospheric halo fades into the blackness of space. This astronaut photograph captured on July 20, , shows a nearly translucent moon emerging from behind the halo. Image of the Day Atmosphere. Image of the Day Heat. EO Explorer. At the time of publication, it represented the best available science. March 1, - December 31, Albedo is one of the major properties that controls how much energy is absorbed by the surface of the Earth, the cloudiness and ground cover are important factors in climate models.

The Earth's surface doesn't have a single albedo, rather a number of different albedos that are combined into a single number to accurately describe how the Earth reflects and absorbs solar energy as a whole.

Figures 2 and 3 below illustrate different albedos around the world, and how those albedos change depending on the time of year. For both images, high albedos are represented by the colour white while lower albedos are a dark blue. The Earth's climate depends on a balance of incoming and outgoing energy from the sun, which is determined by albedo.

The overall albedo of the Earth - measured to be 0. As the world warms the Earth's albedo shifts. The amount of ice covering the planet is dropping as a result of increased temperatures from global warming.

This causes a decrease in the area of white surfaces, leading to less energy to be reflected and more to be absorbed. This process warms the Earth even more. The melting of Arctic ice is especially concerning as it triggers a positive feedback a feedback cycle that drives the climate out of control. In addition to melting ice, which lowers albedo, the conditions caused as a result of the greenhouse effect can also change the albedo of the Earth. The greenhouse effect can lower the albedo of the Earth by trapping in more infrared radiation with the increased number of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, allowing less energy to bounce off of the atmosphere.

Since the greenhouse effect can lower the albedo of the Earth and a changing albedo can result in a change in the equilibrium temperature of the Earth, a change in albedo can contribute to climate change. Fossil Fuels. Nuclear Fuels. Acid Rain. Climate Change. Climate Feedback. Ocean Acidification. Rising Sea Level. Albedos of different surfaces. Figure 2. Albedo values for the Earth for February Figure 3.