albedo

American  

[al-bee-doh] / ælˈbi doʊ /

noun

plural

albedos

1. Astronomy. the ratio of the light reflected by a planet or satellite to that received by it.

2. Meteorology. such a ratio for any part of the earth's surface or atmosphere.

3. pith.

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albedo British  

/ ælˈbiːdəʊ /

noun

1. the ratio of the intensity of light reflected from an object, such as a planet, to that of the light it receives from the sun

2. physics the probability that a neutron passing through a surface will return through that surface

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albedo Scientific  

/ ăl-bē′dō /

1. The fraction of the total light striking a surface that gets reflected from that surface. An object that has a high albedo (near 1) is very bright; an object that has a low albedo (near 0) is dark. The Earth's albedo is about 0.37. The Moon's is about 0.12.

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Etymology

Origin of albedo

First recorded in 1855–60; from Late Latin albēdō “white (color), whiteness,” equivalent to alb(us) “white” + -ēdō noun suffix; torpedo

Example Sentences

The findings appear in the paper titled "Hayabusa2♯ mission target 1998 KY26 preview: decametre size, high albedo and rotating twice as fast" published in Nature Communications.

From Science Daily • Nov. 21, 2025

"Water vapor does not affect the albedo of Earth, so it did not affect our analysis of the magnitude of the aerosol forcing."

From Salon • Feb. 6, 2025

What they found: without the reduced albedo since December 2020, the mean temperature in 2023 would have been approximately 0.23 degrees Celsius lower.

From Science Daily • Dec. 5, 2024

The researchers provide a tool practitioners and land managers can use to determine just how much of a problem albedo is for any reforestation or afforestation project on the globe.

From Science Daily • Mar. 26, 2024

The earth’s albedo is four times that of the moon, which means it shines four times as brightly.

From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins