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 widely varies locally across the surface because of different geological and environmental features. The term albedo was introduced into optics by Johann Heinrich Lambert in his 1760 work "Photometria". Any albedo in visible light falls within a range of about 0.9 for fresh snow to about 0.04 for charcoal, one of the darkest substances. Deeply shadowed cavities can achieve an effective albedo approaching the zero of a black body. When seen from a distance, the ocean surface has a low albedo, as do most forests, whereas desert areas have some of the highest albedos among landforms. Most land areas are