Snow albedo is a fundamental yet poorly constrained control on surface energy and water budgets in land surface and Earth system models. Observed albedo declines across global snow environments reflect interacting processes (many associated with climate change) including grain metamorphism, light-absorbing particle deposition, microbial activity, and wildfire. These processes have outsized impacts on snowmelt, regional warming, water resources, and climate feedbacks.

This session brings together studies of snow albedo variability across tundra, boreal, alpine, prairie, maritime, ephemeral snowpacks, and ice sheets. We welcome contributions examining physical, biological, and chemical drivers of albedo change across daily to decadal timescales, and encourage studies leveraging imaging spectroscopy, advanced remote sensing, radiative transfer modeling, and observational network design. A central goal is connecting field and remote sensing observations with improved snow albedo parameterizations in Earth system models, that are critically needed to advance projections of cryosphere-climate feedbacks and water resource availability under continued warming.

• A - Atmospheric Sciences
• GC - Global Environmental Change