Albedo in an albedo range of 0.1 to 0.4. The average albedo of Earth is about 0.3. This is far higher than for the ocean primarily because of the contribution of clouds. Earth's surface albedo is regularly estimated via Earth observation satellite sensors such as NASA's MODIS instruments on board the Terra and Aqua satellites, and the CERES instrument on the Suomi NPP and JPSS. As the amount of reflected radiation is only measured for a single direction by satellite, not all directions, a mathematical model is used to translate a sample set of satellite reflectance measurements into estimates of directional-hemispherical
Cloud albedo if all other factors are the same. Addition of cloud nuclei by pollution can lead to an increase in solar radiation reflected by clouds. Increasing aerosol concentration and aerosol density increases cloud droplet concentration, decreases cloud droplet size, and increases cloud albedo. In macrophysically identical clouds, a cloud with few larger drops will have a lower albedo than a cloud with more smaller drops. The cloud albedo increases with the total water content or depth of the cloud and with the solar zenith angle. The variation of albedo with zenith angle is most rapid when the sun is near the