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Title: Albedos. Final report

Abstract

The albedo of the earth's surface varies dramatically from values of about 3 to 4 percent for calm bodies of water up to about 55 percent for gypsum sands. This rather broad range of reflected incoming solar radiation presents difficulties when attempting to define an average albedo for terrain over a large region from locally determined values. The patchwork, or checkerboard, appearance of the earth's surface as viewed from above is the result of various human activities, such as agriculture, the proliferation of urban sprawl, and road building. Each of these variable appearing surfaces will have individual albedos, rendering any attempt to determine an a real albedo almost an impossibility on the mesoscale. However, a vast data base exists for microscale applications for individual acreages, for example. A compilation of these data is presented.... Albedo, Solar radiation, Crops, Urban areas, Land uses.

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Army Research Lab., White Sands Missile Range, NM (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
5945180
Report Number(s):
AD-A-268255/7/XAB; ARL-TR-57
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; EARTH PLANET; ALBEDO; SOLAR RADIATION; REFLECTION; CROPS; GYPSUM; MICROBALANCES; SAND; SOILS; SOLAR ENERGY; STATISTICAL DATA; SURFACES; URBAN AREAS; BALANCES; DATA; ENERGY; ENERGY SOURCES; INFORMATION; MEASURING INSTRUMENTS; MINERALS; NUMERICAL DATA; PLANETS; RADIATIONS; RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES; STELLAR RADIATION; SULFATE MINERALS; WEIGHT INDICATORS; 540110*; 661320 - Auroral, Ionospheric, & Magnetospheric Phenomena- (1992-)

Citation Formats

Hansen, F V. Albedos. Final report. United States: N. p., 1993. Web.
Hansen, F V. Albedos. Final report. United States.
Hansen, F V. 1993. "Albedos. Final report". United States.
@article{osti_5945180,
title = {Albedos. Final report},
author = {Hansen, F V},
abstractNote = {The albedo of the earth's surface varies dramatically from values of about 3 to 4 percent for calm bodies of water up to about 55 percent for gypsum sands. This rather broad range of reflected incoming solar radiation presents difficulties when attempting to define an average albedo for terrain over a large region from locally determined values. The patchwork, or checkerboard, appearance of the earth's surface as viewed from above is the result of various human activities, such as agriculture, the proliferation of urban sprawl, and road building. Each of these variable appearing surfaces will have individual albedos, rendering any attempt to determine an a real albedo almost an impossibility on the mesoscale. However, a vast data base exists for microscale applications for individual acreages, for example. A compilation of these data is presented.... Albedo, Solar radiation, Crops, Urban areas, Land uses.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5945180}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993},
month = {Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993}
}

Technical Report:
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