Albedo in urban and rural temperature settings

Albedo can be defined as the ratio of the amount of shine that a ceratin corpse reflects and the amount that it absorbs (Encarta, 2008). For example, a body that rates an albedo of 0. 3 can be construed to reflect back 30 percentage of the light that falls on it, while absorbing the other 70 percent of the light (Encarta, 2008). The term albedo is derived from the Latin term albus, or just white (Dagmar Budikova, 2008).When the object hit with the sun reflects back most of the sunlight, it is state to maintain a high albedo ratio (National Science Foundation, 2006). If the turn push through that is it by the sunlight abosrbs or takes in most of the light, it is say to have a low gear albedo (Science, 2006). Urban scenes usually have low albedo since most of the light is absorbed by the alterations made by man of the natural landscape (Christopher Small). In rural settings, the movement of coarse vegetation (Small).The plant life absorbs most of the suns light to start the demonstrate of photosynthesis necessary for the propagation of plants (Small). This cannot be wholly said for the urban setting, as the plant cover in the urban areas is small compared to the rural environs (Small). But the presence of plant life in the urban setting does have an impact on the air quality and the health of those subsisting in the urban areas (Christopher Small & Roberta Balstad Miller).It is assumed at that placefore that a host of physical characteristics determine the albedo of a certain body (Encarta, 2008). The moon, for example, has a low albedo rating because of its rough terrain, taking in most of the sunlight that hit it (Encarta, 2008). Venus, on the other hand, reflects back a high degree of the sunlight that it take in, thus could be said to possess a high albedo rating (Encarta, 2008). As say earlier, the presence of plant life in an urban setting does continue the albedo rating of the area (Small & Miller).In the New York City area, for exa mple, there is a mix of low and albedo ratings (Small & Miller). This is due to the presence of trees in the area that are conducive to the build-up of dust and ozone in the proper(postnominal) location (Small & Miller). Research at the National Aeronautics and situation Administration (NASA) found out the the asphalt used in smoothing out parking lots and roads, and dark-colored shingles and concrete had a high compactness capacity of sunlight than the rural areas surrounding the urban areas (Krishna Ramanujan, 2007).This would result in a higher temperature in the cities (Ramanujan, 2007). References Budikova, D. (2008). Albedo. Retrieved kinfolk 15, 2008, from http//www. eoearth. org/article/Albedo Miller, R. B. , Small, C. (n. d. ). spatiotemporal monitoring of urban vegetation. Retrieved kinsfolk 15, 2008, from http//www. ldeo. columbia. edu/small/PDF/ISRSE_SmallMiller. pdf. MSN Encarta. (2008). Albedo. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http//encarta. msn. com/ency clopedia_761587643/Albedo. htmlNational Science Foundation. (2006). Albedo. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http//www. arcticice. org/albedo. htm Ramanujan, K. (2007). Scientists take big steps to measure sunlight reflected by Earth. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http//www. nasa. gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/albedo. html Small, C. (n. d. ). Global analysis of urban creation distributions and the physical environment. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http//www. ldeo. columbia. edu/small/Urban/SmallUrbEnv2001. pdf.