Surface albedo is a key variable controlling solar radiation absorbed at the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) surface and, thus, meltwater production. Recent decline in surface albedo over the GrIS has been linked to enhanced snow grain metamorphic rates, earlier snowmelt, and amplified melt– albedo feedback from atmospheric warming. However, the importance of distinct surface types on ablation area ...

In situ measurements of snow albedo at five stations along a north-south transect in the dry-snow facies of the interior of Greenland follow the theoretically expected dependence of snow albedo with solar zenith angles (SZA). Greenland Climate Network (GC-Net) measurements from 1997 through 2007 exhibit the trend of modest surface brightening with increasing SZA on both diurnal and seasonal tim...

Human observers can distinguish the albedo of real-world surfaces even when the surfaces are viewed in isolation, contrary to the Gelb effect. We sought to measure this ability and to understand the cues that might underlie it. We took photographs of complex surfaces such as stucco and asked observers to judge their diffuse reflectance by comparing them to a physical Munsell scale. Their judgme...

Monitoring surface albedo at medium-to-fine resolution (<100 m) has become increasingly important for medium-to-fine scale applications and coarse-resolution data evaluation. This paper presents a method for estimating surface albedo directly using top-of-atmosphere reflectance. This is the first attempt to derive surface albedo for both snow-free and snow-covered conditions from medium-resolut...