The Albedo EffectImpact on global climate change

Taslim. Asiah, Shifah, Muid, Walid

Checklist Introduction

What is climate change? What is Albedo?

Climate Change What is the Albedo effect? Measuring Albedo Levels Example Terrestrial Albedo effects

Terrestrial Albedo effect details The disappearing arctic The impact of Albedo effect on climate change Summary Closing thoughts Resources

Introduction

IntroductionWhat is climate change?

In simple terms, climate change is an alteration in long term weather patterns due to human activities.

What is Albedo?

Albedo is defined as the extent or area to which an object diffusely reflects light from the sun, or it is the ratio of light reflected by a planet or satellite.

Albedo levels 2003-2004

Note: Albedo is also measured from 0 to 1 on a scale, 0 for no reflecting power and 1 for perfect reflection.

Climate Change• The life on earth is made possible by the energy of the sun.• With so many data and statistics going around about

climate change, it can be confusing and rather complicated.• Climate change is cause by many factors such as industrial

pollution, car pollution, etc.• C02 emissions is one of the largest factor of climate

change, coming mainly from the burning of fossil fuel.• The sun's ray provide the basic sustenance for life on planet

earth. For example this energy helps plant's create food which is the primary source of food for all forms of life.

Albedo Effect-Definition Albedo effect:

``A measure of how much of the Sun's energy is reflected off an object back out to space compared to how much is trapped in Earth's atmosphere. Snow, ice and clouds have a relatively high Albedo so generally reflect more of the Sun's energy back to space which has a cooling effect on the Earth. However, cirrus clouds have a lower Albedo transmitting more radiation through to Earth's surface and trapping Earth's reflected radiation. This increases the temperature on Earth. `` (http://www.science.org.au/nova/113/113glo.htm )

Have you ever noticed!

Black T-shirt in the summer will absorb more heat, making you sweat, and white keeps you cool by reflecting more heat.

Black surface can become 40 Celsius hotter than a white surface when exposed to the sunlight.

More on the Albedo effect Changes in the polar regions can cause more warming in the entire planet earth system through feedback effects. One such effect is the reduction of ice and snow due to warmer temperatures.

When the snow and ice disappears, less sun rays are reflected out and instead the heat is absorbed by land and sea - which causes further increase in the warming.

Change to the Earth's Albedo is a powerful driver of climate. When the planet's Albedo or reflectivity increases, more incoming sunlight is reflected back into space.

This has a cooling effect on global temperatures. Conversely, a drop in Albedo warms the planet.

Measuring Albedo LevelsAlbedo is measured in scale from 0.0-1.0• 1.0 being the most reflective.

– For example an Albedo of 1.0 would be reflecting back 100% of light.

– Albedo of fresh snow is about 0.9• 0.0 being the most absorbing surface.

– For example and Albedo of 0.0 would be absorbing 100% of light.

– Albedo of Charcoal is about 0.04

Terrestrial Albedo EffectsTrees: Because trees tend to have a low Albedo, removing forests would tend to increase Albedo and thereby could produce localized climate cooling. In seasonally snow-covered zones, winter Albedo of treeless areas are 10% to 50% higher than nearby forested areas because snow does not cover the trees as readily .

Snow: Snow Albedo can be as high as 0.9; this, however, is for the ideal example: fresh deep snow over a featureless landscape. If a snow-covered area warms, snow tends to melt, lowering the Albedo, and leading to more snowmelt.

Water: Water reflects light very differently from typical terrestrial materials. At the scale of the wavelength of light even wavy water is always smooth so the light is reflected in a locally specular manner. Although the reflectivity of water is very low at low and medium angles of incident light, it increases tremendously at high angles of incident light such as occur on the illuminated side of the Earth near the terminator. However, waviness causes an appreciable reduction. Since the light specularly reflected from water does not usually reach the viewer, water is usually considered to have a very low Albedo in spite of its high reflectivity at high angles of incident light.

Clouds: Cloud Albedo is an important factor in the global warming effect. Different types of clouds exhibit different reflectivity. Albedo and climate in some areas are affected by artificial clouds, such as those created by the contrails of heavy commercial airliner.

Cited from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albedo

Impacts of Albedo Effect Much of the sunlight reflects back when it reaches the earth

surface, if it’s not reflected then its absorbed, and that’s why the temperature increases

This melts the ice and increases the global temperature to a few degrees, when ice melts, it can cause flooding in some areas.

Exposed water or exposed land is darker in colour and it absorbs more energy from the sun. When the ice melts, more land is exposed, this absorbs more heat, melting more ice.

The snow and ice play a important role. without them the sunlight will not reflect back and temperature will rise causing global warming due to an imbalance of light being reflected and absorbed.

Anything white for example snow or ice have a high Albedo level 

The disappearing ice capsVideo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxqWgoR5Xrg

Summary The sun's ray provide the basic sustenance for life on planet earth. For example this energy helps

plant's create food which is the primary source of food for all forms of life.

In order for the earth to have a stable temperature, there has to be a balance between the light being reflected and absorbed.

With increasing C02 in our atmosphere more and more heat from the sun's rays are being trapped and due to this we are having an increase in temperature in some countries which is causing the weather patterns to be changed.

As we are losing more arctic ice shields we are exposing more soil and earth land which has far less albedo then ice covered land.

So therefore our planet is absorbing more and more light energy which is warming up our earth even more and is becoming a contributing factor in climate change.

Our planet earth has provided us with a place of sustenance and harmony. It is our duty to take the extra step to preserve its beauty and to protect its

environment.

We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us.  When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love

and respect.  ~Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Resource

http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/HPDOCS/misr/misr_images/global_seasonal_albedo.jpg http://www.pbs.org/saf/1404/features/thermostat.htm http://www.universetoday.com/39937/albedo-effect/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albedo http://jmtcommunities.blogspot.com/ http://www.dosomething.org/whatsyourthing/Environment/Global+Warming?gclid=CJyeqq3Bv6YCFUVqKgodNzTUHA http://www.the-m-factory.com/portfolio/illustrated/illustrated_08.html http://www.dosomething.org/whatsyourthing/Environment/Global+Warming?gclid=CJyeqq3Bv6YCFUVqKgodNzTUHA http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/12/not-just-ice-albedo/ http://www.blurtit.com/q813327.html http://www.science.org.au/nova/113/113glo.htm http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/images/ACYS_SRP09_GreenFest_World.jpg http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/climate-change/ www.youtube.com