When Earth’s snow and ice cover melts, the reflectivity of Earth’s surface—known as albedo—decreases. And when the albedo of Earth’s surface decreases, a smaller share of sunlight is reflected back into space. As a result, more solar radiation energy remains on Earth, warming its climate system. Similarly, as the snow and ice cover grows, reflectivity increases, which has a cooling effect. This mechanism is called snow and ice albedo feedback. The scale of the snow and ice albedo feedback is determined by, for example, the amount of sunlight and cloudiness.
Click here for original story, Antarctic sea-ice plays an important role in regulating Earth’s energy budget
Source: Phys.org