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Earth Sci 3

Alaska likely has a higher albedo than the Sahara desert. Albedo depends on how reflective a surface is. Alaska has large areas covered in snow and ice for much of the year. Snow and ice are highly reflective and have high albedo values close to 1, meaning they reflect most of the sunlight that hits them. In contrast, the Sahara desert is covered in sand, which has a lower albedo (closer to 0.3-0.4). Sand absorbs more sunlight than it reflects. So the light-colored snow in Alaska reflects more sunlight back into the atmosphere, giving it a higher overall albedo than the sandy Sahara desert.

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Jenrich Marcelo
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51 views11 pages

Earth Sci 3

Alaska likely has a higher albedo than the Sahara desert. Albedo depends on how reflective a surface is. Alaska has large areas covered in snow and ice for much of the year. Snow and ice are highly reflective and have high albedo values close to 1, meaning they reflect most of the sunlight that hits them. In contrast, the Sahara desert is covered in sand, which has a lower albedo (closer to 0.3-0.4). Sand absorbs more sunlight than it reflects. So the light-colored snow in Alaska reflects more sunlight back into the atmosphere, giving it a higher overall albedo than the sandy Sahara desert.

Uploaded by

Jenrich Marcelo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Sun as the Main Source of

Energy
Albedo
● All objects can either absorb or reflect light. This is a property
known as albedo. It has a value that ranges from 0-1.

Albedo Values
The Sun
● The Sun is the Earth’s main
source of energy, and powers
many of the processes in the
planet.

Sun as the main source of


energy.
The Sun
● Plants are dependent on the Sun for photosynthesis.

Importance of the sun on humans and other life forms.


Solar Energy is Renewable

● As long as the sun shines, solar


energy is available for everyone
to utilize.

● This is advantageous since the


sun is an environmentally-
friendly source of energy.
Utilization of solar energy
by using solar panels.
Earth’s Energy Budget
● Earth’s energy budget is the
balance of energy absorbed
and energy reflected.

● 30% of the energy from the


sun is reflected and
scattered by clouds,
atmosphere, and Earth’s
light-colored surfaces. Earth’s energy budget
Factors Affecting Earth’s Energy Budget
● There are certain factors that affect Earth’s energy budget
such as:
○ the amount of light colored surfaces
○ amount of radiation received
○ Earth’s axial tilt
○ presence of greenhouse gases.
The Greenhouse Effect

Greenhouse effect is one of the factors that affects Earth’s energy budget.
1 Albedo is the ability of a material to reflect light.

Earth’s energy budget ensures that the absorbed


2 solar radiation is balanced to the radiated ones.

The factors that affect Earth’s energy budget are the


amount of light colored surfaces, amount of
3 radiation received, Earth’s axial tilt and the presence
of greenhouse gases.
WRITE TRUE IF THE STATEMENT IS CORRECT.
OTHERWISE, WRITE FALSE.
1. Albedo is the ability of the material to absorb light.
2. High albedo means more light energy is reflected.
3. Black surfaces have an albedo value of 1.
4. Earth’s energy budget ensures that energy in is always
balanced to energy out.
5. When the size of the area of light surfaces, energy balance
is also affected.
Compare the albedo values in Alaska and Sahara. Which do
you think has higher albedo? Explain.

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