Abstract
Surface albedo plays a controlling role in the surface energy budget, and albedo-induced radiative forcing has a significant impact on climate and environmental change (e.g., global warming, snow and ice melt, soil and vegetation degradation, and urban heat islands (UHIs)). Several existing review papers have summarized the algorithms and products of surface albedo as well as climate feedback at certain surfaces, while an overall understanding of various land types remains insufficient, especially with increasing studies on albedo management methods regarding mitigating global warming in recent years. In this paper, we present a comprehensive literature review on the variance pattern of surface albedo, the subsequent climate impact, and albedo management strategies. The results show that using the more specific term “surface albedo” is recommended instead of “albedo” to avoid confusion with similar terms (e.g., planetary albedo), and spatiotemporal changes in surface albedo can indicate subtle changes in the energy budget, land cover, and even the specific surface structure. In addition, the close relationships between surface albedo change and climate feedback emphasize the important role of albedo in climate simulation and forecasting, and many albedo management strategies (e.g., the use of retroreflective materials (RRMs)) have been demonstrated to be effective for climate mitigation by offsetting CO2 emissions. In future work, climate effects and management strategies regarding surface albedo at a multitude of spatiotemporal resolutions need to be systematically evaluated to promote its application in climate mitigation, where a life cycle assessment (LCA) method considering both climate benefits and side effects (e.g., thermal comfort) should be followed.
Highlights
Surface albedo is defined as the ratio of the reflected irradiance in the viewing hemisphere to the total incident solar irradiance [1,2], which plays an essential role in surface energy balance, carbon and water cycling, medium- to long-term climate and weather forecasting, and global change studies [3,4]
Surface albedos of the 16 International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) ecosystem classes accompanied by snow have been investigated [70], especially for forests [148,149], and an obvious increase in surface albedo has been observed in snow-covered areas due to their high albedo magnitude
As a controlling parameter in the surface energy balance, surface albedo shows to be a promising approach to climate mitigation
Summary
Surface albedo is defined as the ratio of the reflected irradiance in the viewing hemisphere to the total incident solar irradiance [1,2], which plays an essential role in surface energy balance, carbon and water cycling, medium- to long-term climate and weather forecasting, and global change studies [3,4]. ±0.02 for regional climate simulation is required [3] Based on these mature algorithms and datasets, many studies have focused on monitoring the spatiotemporal variance in global surface albedo, as well as its effect on perturbations in Earth’s radiative balance—or radiative forcing and climate feedback. Reviews of a single land type generally lack an overall understanding of surface albedo for research, and increasing attention has been placed on the albedo-induced climate feedback under the background of global warming [26,31] and corresponding albedo strategies for climate mitigation [20,32]. We present a comprehensive literature review of the variance pattern of surface albedo over typical land types and special objects, subsequent effects on climate, and albedo management strategies for mitigating these undesirable effects. Short-to-long-term albedo monitoring and the application and management of these the spatiotemporal patterns of typical land covers, mixed types and special surfaces. The main findings, some inconsistencies, and future work are discussed, and our conclusions are presented
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