Abstract

The fraction of the incident radiation that is reflected from the surface is called the albedo. Albedo plays a major role in the energy balance of the Earth’s surface, as it defines the rate of the absorbed portion of the incident solar radiation. Soil albedo is a complex feature, which is determined by many soil-dependent and soil-independent (environmental) characteristics. The process that results in the reflected radiation is called reflectance, whereby the energy of radiation is reradiated by the chemical constituents (e.g., atoms or molecules) of the surface layer approximately half the thickness of wavelength.