lexett
Iron
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"Albedo is the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body that reflects all incident radiation." - wikipedia
Basically what this means is that Albedo measures how much sunlight a surface reflects. Now if we proceed to look at which naturally occuring surfaces have the highest albedo scores (see pic related, stratus means clouds so ignore those), we see that fresh snow can reflect up to 10 times as much light as water.
If you haven't spent your whole life inside (JFL ofc) then you've probably experienced getting sunburned canoing or sailing during the summer. Part of why this is so common is that the reflected sunlight of the water compiles with the sunlight from the sun, so you end up getting sunburned faster. Now imagine this reflection effect but 10 times stronger, and instead of it being the lake reflecting it onto you, it's instead literally all your surroundings because snow's everywhere. I myself have multiple times gotten a ski-mask sunburn after skiing in the alpes during the spring, I just hadn't thought of this before. Remember the effects sunlight has on your skin.. (pic related is a truck driver who's had half his face exposed to sun for extended periods of time)
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So if you plan on going outside while the sun is out (like 11am-3pm ffs) and it's recently snowed, remember to wear a thin layer of sunscreen or you risk permanently damaging your skin and ruining collagen. Remember that even though you may have never gotten sunburned previously during the winter, you can still damage your facial skin without getting sunburned, regular sun exposure is more than enough.
TL;DR: Snow reflects sunlight like fucking crazy and it reflects onto your skin. This means that you're at an increased risk of sun-induced skin damage if you stay outside much in fresh snow when it's sunny, so wear sunscreen!
Note: I know a lot of you will come at me saying that the seasonal UV-index is on average lower in the winter due to the orbiting distance from the sun, but tbh many people have been sunburned in january, myself included. Already at pre-sunburn levels of sun-exposure you can damage the skin on your face quite a lot, so I'd say sunscreen during the winter on sunny days out is 100% justified.
Note: For the people saying that Albedo is useless because the reflected sunlight just goes straight up and doesn't hit you, you're retarded. The molecular surface of snow is extremely uneven and it has an enourmous surface area:volume ratio, meaning that it doens't just reflect up, but also hits you.
Basically what this means is that Albedo measures how much sunlight a surface reflects. Now if we proceed to look at which naturally occuring surfaces have the highest albedo scores (see pic related, stratus means clouds so ignore those), we see that fresh snow can reflect up to 10 times as much light as water.
If you haven't spent your whole life inside (JFL ofc) then you've probably experienced getting sunburned canoing or sailing during the summer. Part of why this is so common is that the reflected sunlight of the water compiles with the sunlight from the sun, so you end up getting sunburned faster. Now imagine this reflection effect but 10 times stronger, and instead of it being the lake reflecting it onto you, it's instead literally all your surroundings because snow's everywhere. I myself have multiple times gotten a ski-mask sunburn after skiing in the alpes during the spring, I just hadn't thought of this before. Remember the effects sunlight has on your skin.. (pic related is a truck driver who's had half his face exposed to sun for extended periods of time)
So if you plan on going outside while the sun is out (like 11am-3pm ffs) and it's recently snowed, remember to wear a thin layer of sunscreen or you risk permanently damaging your skin and ruining collagen. Remember that even though you may have never gotten sunburned previously during the winter, you can still damage your facial skin without getting sunburned, regular sun exposure is more than enough.
TL;DR: Snow reflects sunlight like fucking crazy and it reflects onto your skin. This means that you're at an increased risk of sun-induced skin damage if you stay outside much in fresh snow when it's sunny, so wear sunscreen!
Note: I know a lot of you will come at me saying that the seasonal UV-index is on average lower in the winter due to the orbiting distance from the sun, but tbh many people have been sunburned in january, myself included. Already at pre-sunburn levels of sun-exposure you can damage the skin on your face quite a lot, so I'd say sunscreen during the winter on sunny days out is 100% justified.
Note: For the people saying that Albedo is useless because the reflected sunlight just goes straight up and doesn't hit you, you're retarded. The molecular surface of snow is extremely uneven and it has an enourmous surface area:volume ratio, meaning that it doens't just reflect up, but also hits you.
