Toward a new radiative-transfer-based model for remote sensing of terrestrial surface albedo

This Letter formulates a simple yet accurate radiative-transfer-based theoretical model to characterize the fraction of radiation reflected by terrestrial surfaces. Emphasis is placed on the concept of inhomogeneous distribution of the diffuse sky radiation function (DSRF) and multiple interaction effects (MIE). Neglecting DSRF and MIE produces a -1.55% mean relative bias in albedo estimates. The presented model can elucidate the impact of DSRF on the surface volume scattering and geometry-optical scattering components, respectively, especially for slant illuminations with solar zenith angles (SZA) larger than 50°. Particularly striking in the comparisons between our model and ground-based observations is the achievement of the agreement level, indicating that our model can effectively resolve the longstanding issue in accurately estimating albedo at extremely large SZAs and is promising for land-atmosphere interactions studies.