Albedo of a Dissipating Snow Cover

Abstract

Abstract Albedos of surfaces covered with 50 cm of fresh dry snow following a major U.S. East Coast storm on 11–12 February 1983 ranged from 0.20 over a mixed coniferous forest to 0.80 over open farmland. As the snow cover dissipated, albedo decreased in a quasi-linear fashion over forests. It dropped rapidly at first, then slowly, over shrubland; while the opposite was observed over farmland. Following the melt, the albedo of snowfree surfaces ranged from 0.07 over a predominantly wet peat field to 0.20 over a field covered with corn stubble and yellow grass. The difference between snow-covered and snowfree albedo was 0.72 over the peaty field and 0.10 over the mixed forest. Visible band (0.28–0.69 μm) reflectivities of snow-covered fields and shrubland were higher than those in the near-infrared (0.69–2.80 μm), whereas the opposite was true over mixed coniferous forests. Visible and near-infrared reflectivities were approximately equal over deciduous forests. Data were collected in a series of low-altit...