"Albedo, the ratio of incoming to reflected solar radiation, plays an important role in climate by regulating the amount of shortwave radiation reflected or absorbed and subsequently reradiated as longwave radiation by a surface.” (Burakowski et al., 2015)
Albedo changes are related to light scattering which is caused by changes in particle (crystal size) packing density and foreign materials such as algae or dust on the snow; these things impact the melt rate and can be an indicator of snow/water equivalent, which is important for reservoir management.
“Albedo, the ratio of incoming to reflected solar radiation, plays an important role in climate by regulating the amount of shortwave radiation reflected or absorbed and subsequently reradiated as longwave radiation by a surface.” (Burakowski et al., 2015)
Albedo changes are related to light scattering which is caused by changes in particle (crystal size) packing density and foreign materials such as algae or dust on the snow; these things impact the melt rate and can be an indicator of snow/water equivalent, which is important for reservoir management.
Figure 1. Reproduced with permission from Ulyana Horodyskyj. Spectral data characteristics from snow squares of snow and ice; the reflectance signature is characteristic of the morphology of snow and ice and is indicative of other compositional factors such as the degree of contamination by organic and inorganic deposition. (Horodyskyj, U.N., 2013)
Our ASD spectroradiometers have the added value of being portable and with optimal signal-to-noise design for faster measurements, and wide spectral coverage of 350-2500 nm for determining a variety of compositional and important climatological parameters. We offer different instrument configurations and many accessory options for a variety of set-up and sampling approaches for the most convenient and productive measurement scenarios.
ASD instruments are a practical solution to analyze and discover Snow & Ice composition properties:
Ideal for snow & ice applications:
Aoki, T., Kuchiki, K., Niwano, M., Kodama, Y., Hosaka, M., and Tanaka, T. (2011), Physically based snow albedo model for calculating broadband albedos and the solar heating profile in snowpack for general circulation models, Journal of Geophysical Research(116). D11114, doi:10.1029/2010JD015507
Berisford, D., Molotch, N., Durand, M., Painter, T. (2013), Portable spectral profiler probe for rapid snow grain size stratigraphy, Cold Regions Science and Technology(85), 183–190. doi:10.1016/j.coldregions.2012.09.007 Burakowski, E.A., Ollinger, S.V., Lepine, L., Schaaf, C.B., Wang, Z.,
Dibb, J.E., Hollinger, D.Y., Kim, J.H., Erb, A., Martin, M. (2015), Spatial scaling of reflectance and surface albedo over a mixed-use, temperate forest landscape during snow-covered periods, Remote Sensing of the Environment(158), 465-477. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2014.11.023
Dumont, M., Brissaud, O., Picard, G., Schmitt, B., Gallet, J.-C., and Arnaud, Y. (2010), High-accuracy measurements of snow Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function at visible and NIR wavelengths – comparison with modelling results, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics(10), 2507-2520.doi:10.5194/acp-10-2507-2010
Horodyskyj, U. N. (2013, January 25). Quantifying Spectral Diversity within a MODIS footprint – Ngozumpa and Rongbuk Glaciers, Himalaya.
Horodyskyj, U. N. (2015, October 27). The Girls on Ice Program learns about spectroscopy: Gulkana Glacier, Alaska.