Martin's Antarctic Visit  
January 2004  

Hajo Eicken and Patrick A'Hearn measuring the albedo of the snow/ice surface. Snow has a very high albedo, which is why it pays to wear sunglasses when working on snow in bright sunshine. It is also a good idea to use sunscreen.

The high albedo of snow-covered ice and land in the polar regions plays a key role in global climate variability and change. Albedo is the ratio of the amount of shortwave solar radiation reflected off the surface and the total incoming shortwave solar radiation. That is:

Reflected shortwave solar radiation / Total incoming shortwave solar radiation

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