The fraction of solar radiation reflected by a surface or object, often expressed as a percentage. Snow covered surfaces have a high albedo; the albedo of soils ranges from high to low; vegetation covered surfaces and oceans have a low albedo. The Earth’s albedo varies mainly through varying cloudiness, snow, ice, leaf area and land cover changes.

IPCC, 2014, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) 'Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change'

Source category: International Organisation