CMA Albedometers0 pages

Albedometers
FOR THE PRECISE MEASUREMENT
OF GLOBAL AND REFLECTED RADIATION
Specications to ISO 9060:1990 and IEC 60904 standards
Measure incoming and reected solar radiation with one convenient instrument
Used around the world in meteorology, hydrology and climate research
Easily portable for eld research

Introduction
The albedo of a surface is the extent to which it diffusely reects short-wave radiation from the sun in the wavelength range
from 300 to 3000 nanometers (nm). It is the ratio of the reected radiation to the incoming radiation and varies from 0 (dark)
to 1 (bright). As an indication, albedo is about 0.15 for grass, 0.5 for dry sand and 0.8 for fresh snow.
An Albedometer consists of two pyranometers. The upper
sensor measures incoming global solar radiation and the
lower sensor measures solar radiation reected from the
surface below. When the two signal outputs have been
converted to irradiance in W/m², the albedo can be simply
calculated.

Kipp & Zonen has been manufacturing pyranometers for over
75 years and our CMA albedometers share this experience and
technology. They comply with the requirements of ISO
9060:1990 and are fully traceable to the World Radiometric
Reference (WRR) in Davos, Switzerland, where Kipp & Zonen
instruments form part of the World Standard Group.