Scientists began taking records of albedo on Greenland in 2000, and 2014 saw the record low for August and the second
lowest average albedo for the summer, which you can see in the graphs below.
I believe we all agree that sea ice has an empirically observed higher albedo than sea water, so that a significant net melting of sea ice should
lower the average albedo of Earth.
Sulphur aerosols can remain airborn for months to several years, during which time
they lower the average albedo and thus reflect sunlight back to the cosmos.
«The increased open water
lowers the average albedo [reflectivity] of the planet, accelerating global warming; and we are also finding the open water causing seabed permafrost to melt, releasing large amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere.»
Not exact matches
[1] CO2 absorbs IR, is the main GHG, human emissions are increasing its concentration in the atmosphere, raising temperatures globally; the second GHG, water vapor, exists in equilibrium with water / ice, would precipitate out if not for the CO2, so acts as a feedback; since the oceans cover so much of the planet, water is a large positive feedback; melting snow and ice as the atmosphere warms decreases
albedo, another positive feedback, biased toward the poles, which gives larger polar warming than the global
average; decreasing the temperature gradient from the equator to the poles is reducing the driving forces for the jetstream; the jetstream's meanders are increasing in amplitude and slowing, just like the
lower Missippi River where its driving gradient decreases; the larger slower meanders increase the amplitude and duration of blocking highs, increasing drought and extreme temperatures — and 30,000 + Europeans and 5,000 plus Russians die, and the US corn crop, Russian wheat crop, and Aussie wildland fire protection fails — or extreme rainfall floods the US, France, Pakistan, Thailand (driving up prices for disk drives — hows that for unexpected adverse impacts from AGW?)
Given relatively clear conditions and an early to
average start to the melt of the central Arctic, the
albedo will
lower and the process will be in motion to easily melt that first year ice.
Global
average temperature is
lower during glacial periods for two primary reasons: 1) there was only about 190 ppm CO2 in the atmosphere, and other major greenhouse gases (CH4 and N2O) were also
lower 2) the earth surface was more reflective, due to the presence of lots of ice and snow on land, and lots more sea ice than today (that is, the
albedo was higher).
Without them the
albedo would be
low and the effective
average temperature of the surface above 0C.
The 21st century can be expected to be with
lower solar activity, less deflection of cloud - seeding galactic cosmic rays, higher
average cloud cover, a more reflective planetary
albedo, and a cooler planet..
Solar Radiation Management (SRM) or «
albedo modification» is a class of technologies that could
lower global
average temperatures and offset some of the worst impacts of climate change by reflecting a portion of incoming solar radiation back into space before that radiation could be trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
The moon's
average surface temperature is way below freezing despite its much
lower albedo.