I. Introduction Climate stability is a function of the amount of radiant energy input to the Earth system, the distribution of input, and the fraction that is output back into space.
Radiant energy is absorbed, reflected, or scattered by the interactions with Earth's matter.
The initial interaction with matter is responsible for the pathway of distribution and Earth's global radiation budget. The input and distribution of radiant energy dictate, to a degree, other variables including temperature, atmospheric circulation, ocean circulation, precipitation, biological activity, etc. A quantifiable component of distribution is surface albedo, defined as the proportion of incident energy reflected from a surface. Specifically this research will address the methods of measurement and the contribution of the Oxford area modeled on different spatial and temporal scales. This research will use multiple data sets at varied spatial and temporal scales to estimate and characterize surface albedo.