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The balance between energy absorbed by the earth and energy reflected back into space is fundamental in determining how warm or cool the planet becomes. The proportion of radiation reflected away by a surface is called its albedo. Albedo can range between 0 (no reflectance) and 1 (complete reflectanceâlike a mirror). The earthâs average albedo is .31, which means that, overall, the planet reflects about 31% of incoming solar radiation back into space.
Incoming visible light can be absorbed by most objects, but those objects don't get hot enough to emit in the visible spectrum like the sun. Instead infrared is given off from the surface of our planet, and the CO2 (and other greenhouse gases) delay the exiting of this energy into space.