Albedo
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Albedo is the fraction of sunlight that is diffusely reflected by a body. It is measured on a scale from 0 to 1. Surface albedo is defined as the ratio of radiosity Je to the irradiance Ee received by
Greenhouses of El Ejido, Almería, Spain
Reflectivity of smooth water at 20 °C (68 °F) (refractive index=1.333)
The moon Titan is darker than Saturn even though they receive the same amount of sunlight. This is due to a difference in albedo (0.22 versus 0.499 in geometric albedo).
Ice–albedo feedback
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Ice–albedo feedback is a climate change feedback, in which a change in the area of ice caps, glaciers, and sea ice alters the albedo and surface temperature of a planet. Because ice is very reflective
Diagram of ice–albedo feedback. Ice reflects more light back into space, whereas land and water absorb more of the sunlight.
If reaching 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) would cause mountain glaciers, Greenland ice sheet and the WAIS to eventually disappear, and if the Arctic sea ice were to melt away every June, then this albedo loss and its second-order feedbacks causes additional warming in the graphic. While plausible, the loss of the ice sheets would take millennia.
Global warming caused by the potential disappearance of the four notable ice masses and their albedo, assuming an average warming level of 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) throughout
Siachen Glacier Satellite Capture