Blinding Snow

Have you ever looked into snow during a sunny day and find yourself blinded? Well there is a word for this and it is called “Albedo”. Albedo is the amount of incoming shortwave solar radiation which is reflected from the Earth. The albedo is dependent on seasons as well. Albedo is measured by the use of satellites and remote sensing.

Depending on the angle of the sun, water is able to absorb 95% of the incoming solar radiation into it. At lower sun angles, the surface of water becomes more reflective. Fresh snow will reflect 90% of its incoming solar radiation back into the atmosphere. Even old snow and melting snow has a high albedo of 40%-80%. A forest has a low albedo of 15% because it is a darker surface. Because of the high reflectivity of snow, it is a good idea to wear sunglasses especially when you are driving.