Earthshine and the Earth's Albedo

S.E. Koonin1, E. Kolbe2, and M.-C. Chu3

(1) W. K. Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
(2) Department für Physik und Astronomie, Universität Basel, Switzerland
(3) Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N. T., Hong Kong

Abstract. We present simulations that explore the connection between earthshine and the earth's albedo. Fluctuations are found to be well-correlated with fluctuations in the global albedo for observations within 90° of the new moon. In addition, the average albedo is well-determined from the average terrestrial phase function derived from the earthshine observations. These results suggest that precise observations of the earthshine will usefully complement satellite-based studies of the earth's reflectivity. The calculated earthshine intensities are also compared with observations.

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