Understanding Albedographs: A Graphical Representation of Surface Reflectance

Albedo is a measure of how much light that falls on a surface is reflected back, rather than being absorbed. Albedograph is a graphical representation of the albedo of a surface over the solar angle (the angle between the sun and the surface). It is a plot of the albedo as a function of the solar angle, and it provides information about the reflectance properties of the surface.

In other words, an albedograph is a graph that shows how much light is reflected by a surface at different angles of the sun. The graph is typically plotted with the solar angle on the x-axis and the albedo on the y-axis. The shape of the graph can vary depending on the type of surface being studied, but in general, it will show a peak value of albedo at a specific solar angle, which corresponds to the angle at which the surface reflects the most light.

Albedographs are commonly used in remote sensing applications, such as satellite imaging, to determine the reflectance properties of different surfaces and to distinguish between different types of land cover or vegetation. They can also be used to study the effects of climate change on the reflectance properties of surfaces over time.