This is what I call reflection of the sun light
When you look at the sea from some elevated place at close to the sunset time you can observe these images.
It is better seen on the water, than on land.
It is the reflection.
Reflection is when you see the luminous object in the mirror.
Reflection is when you see yourself in the mirror.
When you see the reflection of sun, you can see the sun in the mirror. Sun's reflection in the mirror is blinding.
Explaining about the Solar Irradiation Αccepting Factor "Φ"
Well, you can marvel on these images for a while...
They are taken by my wife Nadia, August 2019, on the Greek island Crete.
Well, you can marvel at those really beautiful photos as long as you wish.
And I will try, in the meantime, to explain about the Solar Irradiation Αccepting Factor "Φ".
It is a very important factor, the Factor "Φ", which I had to insert in the Effective Temperature Complete Formula.
It is not an easy task for me to explain a long ago formed opinion about the celestial bodies' solar light reflection. Because what we see, when we look at the Moon, that luminous cycle we observe up there, that light is not the sun's reflection from the Moon's surface.
In spite of its spherical shape we see Moon as a disk.
The same we can say when we look at the magnificent photos of the Blue Planet Earth. They are taken from some distance in the space. These photos are not the sun's reflections on the Earth.
It is only the fragment of the incident on the celestial bodies light that has been dispersed on the surface.
Of course, eventually, this dispersed on the surface light is also reflected out in space. But it is only a kind of a secondary reflection.
That is why we see the Moon as a homogenous disk instead of visualizing it as a sphere. Even in Moon's waxing and waning we see it as a homogenously illuminated celestial body.
This phenomenon is described as the planet's average albedo "a". But it is not the reflection itself.
Albedo varies depending on the surface properties.
And it is measured for Moon being amoon = 0,11 , and for Earth aearth = 0,306. And it is said, what is left is the part of solar irradiation absorbed by the planet's surface (1-a).
Therefore for a smooth spherical body, as some of the planets are, the reflection of the incident parallel solar light on the insolated Hemisphere is 0,53*S, where S is the solar flux w/m².
The fragment left for a Planet to further handle we shall call the Solar Irradiation Αccepting Factor "Φ".
Factor "Φ" for the smooth and without-atmosphere planets is what left after reflection Φ= 1-0,53 =0,47.
So the factor Φ =0,47 for Earth and for Moon, and Mars, Mercury and many other well observed by satellites known smooth and with-out-atmosphere celestial bodies, mostly gaseous giants' moons.
What left for a planet to absorb is S*Φ*(1-a).
When doing a calculation for Earth = So*0,47(1-0,306)=0,326 *So.
So - it is the solar constant So = 1.361 W/m². The solar constant is the solar flux (1.361 W/m²) measured on the top of Earth's atmosphere.
Consequently Earth absorbs only the 0,326 fragment of the incident solar flux.
That is why the Solar Irradiation Αccepting Factor Φ=0,47 is so important and that is why we have especially distinguished it by inserting in the Planet Mean Surface Temperature New Equation:
Tmean = [ Φ (1-a) S (β*N*cp)¹∕ ⁴ /4σ ]¹∕ ⁴ (1)
We are offering you here some more beautiful sunset solar reflections from the island Crete
The reflection of Mount Hood in Mirror Lake
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The reflection of Mount Hood in Mirror Lake
What we see on the photo when we look at the mountain is similar to what we see when we look at the Moon.
We do not see the reflection of the sun. What we see on the photo is the albedo.
The solar specular reflection is blinding
The solar reflection is indeed blinding
The solar reflection is indeed blinding. When you look in the opposite of the sun direction you cannot see the solar reflection.
What you see when you look at the sun lighted sea surface having the sun behind you is the sea surface illuminated by the dispersed on the surface sunlight.
The dispersed on the surface light also escapes in the outer space, but it is a secondary reflection and it is described by surface's Albedo "a".
The direct reflection is described by the (1-Φ), where "Φ" is the Spherical Surface Solar Irradiation Accepting Factor.
For a smooth without-atmosphere spherical surface, such as Earth, Moon, Mars, Mercury and other:
Φ = 0,47
Earth has a very thin atmosphere which does not affect the Earth's surface solar irradiation absorbing-emitting process.
Sun's reflection cannot be seen from the space because of the planet's spherical shape.
Sun's reflection on the planet's surface is mirroring and it is blinding.
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https://www.cristos-vournas.com
The faster a planet rotates (n2>n1) the higher is the planet’s average (mean) temperature T↑mean:
Tmin↑→ T↑mean ← T↓max
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