ALBEDO Definition & Meaning

albedo

[ al-bee-doh ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

plural albedos.

Astronomy. the ratio of the light reflected by a planet or satellite to that received by it.
Meteorology. such a ratio for any part of the earth's surface or atmosphere.
pith ( def 2 ).

albedo

/ æ��ˈ��ː��əʊ /

noun

the ratio of the intensity of light reflected from an object, such as a planet, to that of the light it receives from the sun
physics the probability that a neutron passing through a surface will return through that surface

albedo

/ ă��-��ŧ′��ō /

The fraction of the total light striking a surface that gets reflected from that surface. An object that has a high albedo (near 1) is very bright; an object that has a low albedo (near 0) is dark. The Earth's albedo is about 0.37. The Moon's is about 0.12.

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of albedo¹

First recorded in 1855–60; from Late Latin albē��ō “white (color), whiteness,” equivalent to alb(us) “white” + -ē��ō noun suffix; torpedo

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of albedo¹

C19: from Church Latin: whiteness, from Latin albus white

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

"Water vapor does not affect the albedo of Earth, so it did not affect our analysis of the magnitude of the aerosol forcing."

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Planetary albedo describes the percentage of incoming solar radiation that is reflected back into space after all interactions with the atmosphere and the surface of the Earth.

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Even in these locations, however, albedo changes are likely to offset the net climate benefit by at least 20 percent in around two-thirds of cases.

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Other potential outcomes include reductions in albedo — or the amount of light reflected by the ice — which would accelerate human-caused warming by creating an amplifying feedback loop.

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The loss of ice affects land surface temperatures because of albedo, which is the measure of how reflective a surface is.

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