Albedo - pure number
Description
For many applications involving terrestrial albedo, the albedo at a particular solar zenith angle θi can reasonably be approximated by the formula presented.
Directional-hemispherical reflectance is sometimes referred to as black-sky albedo and bi-hemispherical reflectance as white-sky albedo. These terms are important because they allow the albedo to be calculated for any given illumination conditions from a knowledge of the intrinsic properties of the surface.
Variables
α | Albedo (dimensionless) |
D | Diffuse illumination (dimensionless) |
α_θ | Directional-hemispherical reflectance at that solar zenith angle (dimensionless) |
α2 | Bi-hemispherical reflectance (dimensionless) |