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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.

Related formulas

Variables

αAlbedo (dimensionless)
DDiffuse illumination (dimensionless)
α_θDirectional-hemispherical reflectance at that solar zenith angle (dimensionless)
α2Bi-hemispherical reflectance (dimensionless)