Does ice have a higher albedo than water and how much solar radiation is reflected by ice?
thank's Prof, my answer: The albedo of snow is higher than water because ice is covered with white snow and snow has an albedo of 0.9
Yes, ice generally has a higher albedo than liquid water. The albedo of ice is typically higher than that of water because ice is more reflective. When sunlight hits ice, a significant portion of the radiation is reflected back into space. In contrast, water absorbs more solar radiation, leading to a lower albedo.
In fact ice is slightly less reflective than water. The reflectivity is related to the refractive index and the refractive index of ice is 1.31 while the refractive index of water is 1.33. The slightly lower refractive index of ice will cause a slightly lower reflectivity. Water has a much lower albedo than ice. A typical albedo for open ocean water is 0.06 reflecting only 6 percent of incoming radiation while bare ice has a typical albedo of 0.5 and reflects 50 percent. Another important positive climate feedback is the so-called ice albedo feedback. This feedback arises from the simple fact that ice is more reflective (that is, has a higher albedo) than land or water surfaces. Therefore, as global ice cover decreases, the reflectivity.Snow-covered surfaces on the ice sheet reflect 80% of insolation back to space, while snow-free surfaces have lower albedo. Bare ice has an albedo of about 40% and even lower albedo if summer melts water pools are standing on the surface. Ice–albedo feedback is a positive feedback climate process where a change in the area of ice caps, glaciers, and sea ice alters the albedo and surface temperature of a planet. Ice is very reflective; therefore it reflects far more solar energy back to space than the other types of land area or open water. The darker ocean reflects only 6 percent of the sun's energy and absorbs the rest, while sea ice reflects 50 to 70 percent of the incoming energy. Snow has an even higher ability to reflect solar energy than sea ice. Snow-covered sea ice reflects as much as 90 percent of the incoming solar radiation. Snow and ice can reflect 50- 90% of incoming sunlight. As the Earth's average temperature rises, snow and ice cover decreases, increasing the amount sunlight being absorbed, and further contributing to global warming. Fresh snow and snow-covered sea ice may have an albedo higher than 80%, meaning that more than 80% of the suns energy striking the surface is reflected back to space. Even when melting in summer, sea ice has an albedo of more than 50%. The albedo for different surface conditions on the sea ice range widely, from roughly 85 per cent of radiation reflected for snow-covered ice to 7 per cent for open water. These two surfaces cover the range from the largest to the smallest albedo on earth.
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