Land Surface Albedo

The land surface albedo, i.e., the fraction of solar radiation scattered backward by land surfaces, results from complex nonlinear radiation transfer processes determining the amount of radiation that is scattered by the vegetation and its background, transmitted through the vegetation layer, or absorbed by the vegetation layer and its background. The geographical distribution of normalized anomalies in visible and near-infrared surface albedo for year 2011 relative to the 2003–11 base period (for which two MODIS sensors are available) are investigated, and analyzed in relation with other radiant fluxes, in particular, the Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen