Albedo at high angles of incident light such as those that occur on the illuminated side of Earth near the terminator (early morning, late afternoon, and near the poles). However, as mentioned above, waviness causes an appreciable reduction. Because light specularly reflected from water does not usually reach the viewer, water is usually considered to have a very low albedo in spite of its high reflectivity at high angles of incident light. Note that white caps on waves look white (and have high albedo) because the water is foamed up, so there are many superimposed bubble surfaces which reflect, adding up
Albedo feature Albedo feature An albedo feature is a large area on the surface of a planet (or other solar system body) which shows a contrast in brightness or darkness (albedo) with adjacent areas. Historically, albedo features were the very first (and usually only) features to be seen and named on Mars and Mercury. Early classical maps (such as those of Schiaparelli and Antoniadi) showed only albedo features, and it was not until the arrival of space probes that other surface features such as craters could be seen. On bodies other than Mars and Mercury, an albedo feature is sometimes called a