Estimating albedo for evapotranspiration models

Solar reflectance, or albedo, is one of the most critical factors affecting the prediction of evaporation and evapotranspiration. When evaporation or evapotranspiration is estimated from predictive models, and a poor selection of a value for albedo is made from that available in the published literature, significant errors become inherent in these estimations. A predictive, physically based model has been developed to substantially reduce and possibly eliminate the errors encountered in selecting values for albedo. A literature review concerning albedo is included in the text as well as justifications for the newly developed model.