Appendix V
Albedo (Latin word meaning white)
Albedo is a measure of the reflectivity of a surface or body. It is the ratio of total electromagnetic radiation reflected to the total amount of incident light on it. The albedo is unitless and is sometimes expressed in percentage, from 0% to 100%. It is an important concept in climatology and astronomy. The ratio depends on the frequency of radiation considered unqualified. Fresh snow albedos are high, upto 90% whereas the ocean surface has low albedo. The average albedo of the earth is about 30% and of the moon is about 7%, respectively. Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, has the highest known albedo of any body in the solar system, that is 99%.
Human activities such as deforestation, farming and so on ...
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