Albedo planet would drop to about 0 °C. In contrast, if the entire Earth was covered by water — a so-called aquaplanet — the average temperature on the planet would rise to almost 27 °C. For land surfaces, it has been shown that the albedo at a particular solar zenith angle "θ" can be approximated by the proportionate sum of two terms: the directional-hemispherical reflectance at that solar zenith angle, formula_1, and the bi-hemispherical reflectance, formula_2, with formula_3 being the proportion of direct radiation from a given solar angle, and formula_4 being the proportion of diffuse illumination. Hence, the actual albedo
Albedo lowers albedo, increasing local temperatures, which induces more melting and thus reducing the albedo further, resulting in still more heating. Snow albedo is highly variable, ranging from as high as 0.9 for freshly fallen snow, to about 0.4 for melting snow, and as low as 0.2 for dirty snow. Over Antarctica snow albedo averages a little more than 0.8. If a marginally snow-covered area warms, snow tends to melt, lowering the albedo, and hence leading to more snowmelt because more radiation is being absorbed by the snowpack (the ice–albedo positive feedback). Just as fresh snow has a higher albedo than