The featured chart is a time series of local noon measured short wave radiation this year at one of the flux sites operated by the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment. "Short wave" is a term used to describe the wavelengths at which most of the sun's radiated energy is found at. The top chart shows the energy arriving from the sun (downwelling) and the amount reflected by the surface (upwelling). The ratio between these two values is called "albedo" and is presented in the bottom chart. The last two days saw a dramatic change in albedo with the arrival of snow. This is one of the main reasons why our weather gets cold when it snows as the snowcover is a very efficient reflector of the sun's energy. The chart also shows some nice growing season effects as the corn canopy expands and harvest occurs in the fall.

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Tags:   albedo   flux