Term: | Ice-albedo feedback |
Definition: |
A climate feedback involving changes in the Earth's surface albedo. Snow and ice have an albedo much higher (up to ~0.8) than the average planetary albedo (~0.3). With increasing temperatures, it is anticipated that snow and ice extent will decrease, the Earth's overall albedo will decrease and more solar radiation will be absorbed, warming the Earth further. IPCC2013
GCW |