ALBEDO

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does albedo mean? 

• ALBEDO (noun)
  The noun ALBEDO has 1 sense:

1. the ratio of reflected to incident light

  Familiarity information: ALBEDO used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ALBEDO (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The ratio of reflected to incident light

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

albedo; reflective power

Hypernyms ("albedo" is a kind of...):

ratio (the relative magnitudes of two quantities (usually expressed as a quotient))

 Context examples 

The albedo of the planet increases, reflecting more solar energy back into space.

(Climatic feedback mechanisms, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

Earth’s reflected light (albedo) is brightest in the Northern Hemisphere spring with a second, slightly smaller peak in the Southern Hemisphere spring.

(Earthshine, NASA)

Subtle albedo variations across the disk of Rhea hint at past geologic activity.

(Regarding Rhea, NASA)

Called the runaway albedo effect, this phenomenon would eventually lead to a single dominating ice cap, like the one observed on Pluto’s heart.

(Scientists Probe Mystery of Pluto’s Icy Heart, NASA)

Samples taken from a snow pit in the accumulation region of the Commonwealth Glacier suggest the black carbon transported from beyond the continent is not sufficient to reduce the albedo — the glacier's ability to reflect light — to a degree that would increase melting.

(Soot transported from elsewhere in world contributes little to melting of some Antarctic glaciers, National Science Foundation)

Soon after the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts in 1958, American and Russian scientists concluded that the process of cosmic ray albedo neutron decay (CRAND) was likely the source of the high-energy particles trapped in Earth's magnetic field.

(Six-decade-old space mystery solved with shoebox-sized satellite called a CubeSat, National Science Foundation)