Cold Regions Science and Technology 126 (2016) 3035

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Cold Regions Science and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/coldregions

Theory and procedure for measuring the albedo of a

roadway embankment
Yinghong Qin , Kanghao Tan, Jia Liang
a
b

College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guangxi University, 100 University Road, Nanning, Guangxi 530004, China
Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Engineering Safety of Guangxi, Nanning 530004, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 16 June 2015
Received in revised form 6 March 2016
Accepted 14 March 2016
Available online 18 March 2016
Keywords:
Albedo
Solar reectance
Reectivity
ASTM E1918-06
View factor
Embankment prototype

a b s t r a c t
The construction of roadway embankments in permafrost regions modies the pre-existing ground surface,
possibly increasing the solar absorption of the embankment. Measuring the albedo of the embankments is crucial
to understand the degree of the construction-induced thermal disturbance and to cool the permafrost in the
roadbed. While there are existing standards for measuring the albedo of a curved surface, these standards cannot
be adpated to the albedo of an embankment. This study develops a theoretical model for measuring the albedo of
a roadway embankment. The albedo of an embankment prototype is estimated by successively covering a target
surface with a white mask, a black mask, and the embankment prototype and recording the diffuse reections
and the global horizontal radiation accordingly. The albedo of a typical embankment is about 0.05 to 0.08
lower than a at surface that has the same surface material as the embankment, suggesting that an embankment
absorbs more sunlight than its adjacent ground surface and its pre-existing ground surface. The embankmentalbedo measuring procedure is compared with the ASTM E1918-06, with a focus on minimizing the errors of
the measurements.
2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Roadways in permafrost regions are usually built upon embankments, which are constructed to disperse the trafc loadings and to prevent the thawing damage of the underlying layer (Esch, 1978, 1983,
1996a; Ma et al., 2009; Qin and Zhang, 2010; Qin et al., 2010; Vinson,
1993). The embankment buries the pre-existing ground surface and
modies the ground surface thermal balance, negatively varying the
heat convection, the vegetation coverage, and the solar absorption
(Cheng et al., 2008; Esch, 1996b; Qin and Zhang, 2013; Vinson, 1993).
The roadbed can be cooled by enhancing the air convection in the
embankment; by reducing the solar absorption at the embankment surface; and the combinations of these approaches (Cheng et al., 2008;
Esch, 1996b; Lai et al., 2006, 2009; Reckard, 1985; Vinson et al., 1996).
Techniques to enhancing the embankment convective heat loss includes the air convective embankment (Cheng et al., 2007; Goering,
2003; Goering and Kumar, 1996); heat drains (Beaulac and Dore,
2006); air ducts embankment (Coulombe et al., 2012; Dong et al.,
2010; Lepage and Dore, 2010; Qin and Zhang, 2013); thermosyphons
(Haynes and Zarling, 1988; Lai et al., 2009; Wagner, 2014). The solar
absorption of the embankment can be reduced by using light-colored
or white-colored pavement surfaces (Berg and Esch, 1983; Jrgensen,

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: yinghong231@gmail.com (Y. Qin).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2016.03.005
0165-232X/ 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

2008; Lepage and Dore, 2010; M-Lepage et al., 2012a); by installing of

shading boards and sunsheds on the side slopes (Feng et al., 2006;
M-Lepage et al., 2012b; Qin et al., 2015b); by facing the embankment
side slopes with high-reectivity paints (Qin et al., 2015a, 2016).
Among these techniques, reducing the solar absorption of the embankment is the most direct approach to cool the roadbed because the
temperature of the earth subsurface is driven by the solar radiation.
While there are some investigations of the solar absorption of the embankment (Chen et al., 2006; Chou et al., 2010; Hu et al., 2002), knowledge of the solar absorption of an embankment is scanty. Measuring the
absorptivity (absorptivity = 1-albedo) of an embankment is crucial to
quantify the construction-induced thermal disturbance and to develop
engineered solutions to keep the embankment cooler. With a curved
surface, some diffuse reections leaving adjacent ground surfaces is
intercepted by the embankment side slopes rather than by the sky.
This solar trapping effect is the subject of multiple reections, increasing
the solar absorption of the embankment. The methods to measuring the
solar absorption of an embankment, however, have not been developed.
An existing standard such as ASTM C 1459 (2014) is designed to measure the albedo of a at surface with 5 cm2. Due to this small surface,
it is difcult to adapt this method to the albedo of an embankment.
ASTM E1918-06 (2015), designed to measure the albedo of roof tile, is
capable to measure the albedo of a curved surface with an area of
1 m2(Akbari et al., 2008). Nevertheless, the roughness of roof tiles is
greatly smaller than that of an embankment so that the ASTM E191806 cannot be adapted to measure the albedo of an embankment.

Y. Qin et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 126 (2016) 3035

immeasurable and the albedo of this curved surface cannot be estimated by using Eq. (2).

Nomenclature
English symbols
F
the view factor from the lower pyranometer to the
target
I
global horizontal solar radiation (GHSR)
diffuse reections when the black mask is on the target
Ib
surface
diffuse reections when the embankment prototype is
It
on the target surface
diffuse reections when the white mask is on the target
Iw
surface
the GHSR when the black mask is on the target
Ihb
the GHSR when the embankment prototype is on the
Iht
target
the GHSR when the white mask is on the target
Ihw
Greek symbols

wavelength
r
spectral reectance
the albedo of the black mask
b
the albedo of the paint on the embankment surface
p
the albedo of the embankment
t
the albedo of the white mask
w
the embankments albedo estimated by the ASTM
1918
E1918-06

This study develops a theoretical model to measure the albedo of an

embankment prototype. The procedures for measuring a curved surface
like an embankment are provided in detail. We measured the albedo of
an embankment prototype and of a at plate that had the same material
as the embankment, to conclude the solar absorptive difference between an embankment and its pre-existing ground surface. To avoid
the slope-facing problem effect on the analysis of the embankment
albedo, the experiment was conducted on a cloudy day. This albedomeasurement approach is compared to the existing standard ASTM
E1918-06, with a focus to minimizing measurement errors.

2.2. Theory for measuring the albedo of an embankment prototype

The embankment is a curved surface consisting of two side slopes
and an upper surface. The embankment in eld is so large that it is uneconomical to set a pyranometer some meters above the embankment
to measure the diffuse reections of the embankment. However, we
can fabricate an embankment prototype in lab and measure the albedo
of the prototype. The albedo of this prototype can represent the embankment in eld because the wavelength of the sunlight is several orders of magnitude lower than the size of the embankment prototype so
that the diffraction radiation at the curved surface can be neglected.
Placing an embankment prototype on a target area and then centering and leveling an albedometer (an instrument that assembles two
pyranometers back to back with the lower one reading the diffuse reection It(W/m2) and the upper one measuring the global horizontal
solar radiation (GHSR) Iht (W/m2), one gets
It t F s 1  F Iht

Iw w F s 1  F Ihw ;

Ib b F s 1  F Ihb

where w and b are the albedo of the white and black masks, respectively. Iw (W/m2) and Ihw (W/m2) are the diffuse reections and the GHSR
when the white mask is used; Ib(W/m2) and Ihb(W/m2), when the black
mask is used. Once w and b are known, one can nd t as:


2.1. The albedo of a material

Albedo, or solar reectance, is quantied as the proportion of solar

radiation of all wavelengths reected by a body or surface to the amount
incident upon it. Let irradiance I denote incident power per unit surface
and let i() represent incident power per unit surface area per unit
wavelength . Considering a surface (at or curved) that has a spectral
reectance r(), the incident solar radiation intensity I

and the albedo (), or reectivity, of the surface

1 1
ir d;
I 0

where 0 = 280 nm and 1 = 2500 nm are usually considered.

According to Eq. (2), the albedo of a surface depends on the incident
solar spectral irradiance i() and the spectral reectance r(). If a at
surface is homogeneous, r() is the spectral reectance of a small sample of the surface. The albedo of this at surface can be estimated by
assuming an incident solar spectral irradiance i(). However, if a surface
is curved or heterogeneous, the spectral reectance of the surface is

where F is the view factor from the lower pyranometer to the target
area; s is the weighted albedo of the surroundings; t is the albedo of
the embankment prototype.
In Eq. (3), both t and s are unknown so we cannot nd t unless
one another equation is introduced. This additional equation can be
found by covering the target area with a mask that has a known albedo.
Usually, a white solar-opaque mask and a black solar-opaque mask are
used while measuring the GHSR and the diffuse reections, respectively.
The solar reectance obeys:

2. Theory

I 10 id;

31

It
Iht




Ib
It
Iw
w 


Ihb
Iht
Ihw b


Iw
I
 b
Ihw I hb

where the albedo of the target surface t is independent to the view factor
F and to the albedo of the surrounding s.
According to Eq. (6), the albedo of the surroundings does not inuence the albedo of the target area. This means that the objects around
the embankment prototype would not affect the albedo measurement
of the prototype. This is true only if the incident solar spectrum i()
varies negligibly during a specic measurement cycle. This is because
in Eqs. (3)(5), s is assumed as a constant during the replacements of
the white mask, black mask, and embankment prototype. According
to Eq. (2), this assumption satises only if the incident solar spectrum
i() varies negligibly during a specic measurement cycle. In this
study, if the maximum difference among Ihw, Ihb, and Iht is greater than
10 W/m2 for a cloudy day and 20 W/m2 for a sunny day, the measurement must be redone. The other assumption in Eqs. (4)(5) is that the
albedo of the white and black masks is a constant for each. According
to Eq. (2), this assumption means that the spectral reectance r()
must be a scale regardless of the solar irradiance wavelength . This
means that the white and black mask must be selected such that their
spectral reectance is a constant for each regardless of the irradiance
wavelength; i.e., (r() = r).

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Y. Qin et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 126 (2016) 3035

2.3. Procedures for measuring the albedo of an embankment prototype

According to Eq. (6), to measure the albedo of an embankment
prototype, we have to prepare an embankment prototype, a white
opaque mask, and a black mask; both masks with the same project
area as the embankment prototype. We also have to measure the albedo
of the white and black masks, respectively. Once the preparation is complete, the procedure for measuring the albedo of an embankment prototype is the following:
(1) Label the target area, which has the same project area as the
embankment prototype.
(2) Center and level the albedometer 0.5 m over the target area;
Facing the arm supporting the albedometer toward the sun to
minimize the shadow errors.
(3) Place the white mask on the target area and measure the diffuse
reections Iw and the GHSR Ihw, respectively.
(4) Replace the white mask with the black mask and read Ib and Ihb,
respectively (Fig. 3b).
(5) Replace the black mask with the embankment prototype and
record the It and Iht, respectively;
(6) Examine if the maximum difference among Ihw, Ihb, and Iht is
greater than 20 W/m2 for a clear day and 10 W/m2 for a cloudy
day; if no, compute the albedo, t, of the crushed rock layer
using Eq. (6); Otherwise, repeat the Steps (3)(5).

3. Experiments
Two solar opaque masks with relatively constant spectral reectance were selected as the white and black masks, respectively. Their
spectral reectance was measured by a Spectrophotometer Lamda 750
and shown in Fig. 1. Their albedo was w = 0.692 and b = 0.048, estimated by using the clear sky AM1 (air mass = 1) global horizontal solar
irradiance (Levinson et al., 2010). Under different incident solar spectral
radiation, w = 0.692 and b = 0.048 were still valid because the spectral reectance is very close to a at line (Fig. 1).
To understand the solar absorption of the embankment and of its
pre-existing ground surface, we measured the albedo of an embankment prototype and of a at plate that was the same material as the prototype. The embankment model was 1.0 m-length isosceles trapezoidal
cross-section, with a short base of 0.2 m and a long base of 0.4 m and a
height of 0.1 m. The at plate had the same project area as the embankment model. We painted the prototype and the at plate with the same
pigment (Fig. 3cd). The spectral reectance of the pigment is shown in
Fig. 1, and the albedo of the painted pigment is p = 0.257, estimated by
using the clear sky AM1 (air mass = 1) global horizontal solar irradiance (Levinson et al., 2010).

Fig. 1. The spectral reectance of the white mask, black mask, and painted pigment; and
the clear sky AM1 (air mass = 1) global horizontal solar irradiance.

As the incident solar spectral radiation varies over time, the albedo
of a surface changes with the solar position. To characterize these variations, we measured the albedo of the target area during a daily cycle.
An albedometer that assembled two pyranometers back to back was
centered and leveled over the target area (Fig. 2). The albedometer,
Kipp & Zonen CMA 11, had a solution of 1 W/m2. To avoid the slopefacing problem inuencing on the albedo interpretation of the embankment model, we measured the albedo of the embankment prototype
and of the at plate on a cloudy day (Fig. 3). The experiments were
conducted on an on-campus road in Guangxi University (22.82N,
108.32 E) on May 24, 2015 from 8:00 to 18:00 at local time. The trafc
was closed when measuring. The albedo of the at plate and of the
embankment prototype was measured in one-hour interval. Both
models were placed at the orientation of 0, 45, and 90 successively
and respectively, to characterize the inuence of the embankment
orientation on the albedo.
4. Results
4.1. Comparison of the at plate albedo and the embankment prototype
albedo
The measured albedo of the embankment prototype is always about
0.050.08 lower than that of the at plate (Fig. 4). The albedo of the at
plate varies slightly around 0.25, which is close to the albedo estimated
by using the clear sky AM1 (air mass = 1) global horizontal solar irradiance (p = 0.257). The albedo of the embankment prototype on different orientations exhibits the same-level variations. But this albedo falls
0.050.08 below the albedo the at plate, meaning that the embankment prototype tends to reect less solar radiation than the at plate.
Analogizing the embankment prototype as a roadway embankment
and the at plate as the pre-existing ground surface buried underneath
the embankment, we can conclude that the embankment in eld absorbs more sunlight than its pre-existing ground surface. We can also
conclude that the embankments are more absorptive than the adjacent
ground surface.
4.2. Comparison the solution in Eq. (6) with ASTM E1918-06
ASTM E1918-06 is the existing standard for measuring the albedo of
a curved surface. This standard requires one pyranometer only. The
diffuse reections It, Iw and Ib are measured by centering and leveling a
pyranometer downward to the target area; and the GHSRs Iht, Ihw and
Ihb are assumed as a constant Ih. With this assumption, the albedo of the
target model can be found in.
1918 b

It  Ib
 b :
Iw  Ib w

According to Eq. (7), the GHSR (Ih) is not required; that is, only one
down-facing pyranometer is sufcient to measure the albedo of the embankment prototype.
Eq. (7) is simpler than Eq. (6) due to the assumption of a constant GHSR during the measurement. However, this assumption
may introduce errors to the albedo estimation because the incident
solar radiation varies during the replacements of the white mask,
black mask and target model.
Substituting Iw, Ib, It, w, and b into Eq. (7), one gets the
embankment's albedo estimated by ASTM E1918-06. The albedo estimated by Eq. (6) can be either greater or lower than that calculated by
the ASTM E1918-06. Theoretically, the measurement t and 1918 is
equal if the GHSR is a constant during a specic measurement cycle. If
the GHSR varies less than 10 W/m2, the difference between t and
1918 is about 00.02 (Fig. 5a); this difference would be 00.2 if the
GHSR varies less than 20 W/m2 during the measurement (Fig. 5b). The
embankment's albedo of estimated by the ASTM E1918-06 can be as

Y. Qin et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 126 (2016) 3035

33

Fig. 2. A schematic of the albedometer, target area, and support system; the target area can be covered by a white mask, a black mask, or the embankment prototype.

Fig. 3. Measure the albedo of the at plate and of the embankment prototype (a) the white mask; (b) the black mask; (c) the at plate; (d) the embankment prototype.

high as 0.42, which is about 0.16 greater than the albedo of the pigment
(p = 0.257 0.26). This is unreasonable because the albedo of a
curved surface is usually lower than the albedo of a at surface. The culprit of the measurement errors is due to the assumption of constant Ih in
ASTM E1918-06. As the experiment was conducted during a cloudy day,
the cloud thickness varies over time and the arriving solar radiation
could vary during a measurement cycle.
In the ASTM E1918-06, the measurement must be redone if the
GHSR varies less than 20 W/m2 during a sunny day. In a cloudy day,
this threshold leads to high-level errors and it is recommended to set
this threshold as 10 W/m2. It is noted that the ASTM E1918-06 is developed to measure the albedo of roong tiles on the basis of California
Weather (ASTM-E1918-06, 2015), where the GHSR is relatively stable.
In regions with high unstable weather, the GHSR varies with time highly
so limiting the variation of GHSR within 10 W/m2 is difcult during a
specic albedo-measuring cycle. Using the ASTM E1918-06 measuring
the albedo of a heterogeneous surface in a cloudy weather is meaningful
only if the GSHR varies less than 10 W/m2.
5. Discussion
A theoretical model and its measuring procedure have been proposed to measure the albedo of a curved surface such as a roadway
embankment prototype. Compared to the existing standard ASTM
E1918-06, the measuring procedure developed in this study requires two pyranometers that are assembled back to back to read
the diffuse reections and the GHSRs simultaneously. The use of
an additional pyranometer can greatly improve the measuring

accuracy, making the model available to measure the albedo of a

curved surface in a cloudy day. Measuring the albedo at a stable
weather is recommended because the errors of the proposed method increase with the variations of GHSR during the measurements.
It should be noted that the measuring accuracy of the procedure depends also on the view factor of the down-facing pyranometer to the
target area. In this experiment, the embankment model has a project
area of 0.4 m 1.0 m. The associated view factor from the downfacing pyranometer to the target area is F = 0.20.3. In this case, both
the factors of F and 1 F are of the same magnitude in Eqs. (3)(5)
so that the weighted average of the sunlight reected by the target
area and the surrounding area is estimated properly. This is because in
Eqs. (3)(5) the factor of wF, s(1 - F), bF should be the same order
of magnitude and be of value as close as possible. Ideally, F = 0.5 is
the best alternative; but to achieve this value, the lower pyranometer
has to be about 0.3 m or even closer to the embankment prototype.
The replacements of the prototype, white mask, black mask may destroy the pyranometer. As the length of the embankment prototype is
1.0 m and it is uneconomical to use a bigger size, setting the lower
pyranometer closer to the embankment surface may enlarge the
edge effect of the prototype, which may cause more measurement errors. Therefore, setting the lower pyranometer 0.5 m above the ground
is selected in this study. If the target area has a large project area than
the target area in this study, we recommend that the distance from
the lower pyranometer to the target area is re-set so that the view factor
F is exactly 0.5 or close to 0.5.
The experiments in this study, conducted at Nanning, Guangxi,
China is far different from those in permafrost regions. The incident

Fig. 4. The albedo of an embankment prototype is about 0.050.08 lower than the albedo of a at plate; (a) 0 orientation; (b) 45 orientation; (c) 90 orientation. The time in the x-axis is
local solar time.

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Y. Qin et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 126 (2016) 3035

Fig. 5. Comparison the solution in Eq. (6) with Eq. (7) (the ASTM E1918-06); during a specic measurement cycle the albedo is estimated (a) the GHSR varies less than 10 W/m2; (b) the
GHSR varies less than 20 W/m2.

solar radiation, the local insolation, and the sky clear factors are different
from the measurements in this study. The embankment surface and its
adjacent ground surface may have different albedo than the embankment model and the at model. While these different factors may inuence the measured albedo of the embankment somewhat, the proposed
model is still available to measure the albedo of the embankment in permafrost regions. The reason is that the albedo-measuring procedure and
the theory proposed in this study do not specify any limitations (such as
latitude) to the measurement. The proposed model can be seen as an
extension of the ASTM E1918-06. In the further investigations, the theory and procedure developed are expected to measure the albedo of
crushed rock revetment surfaces, of bare soil layers, and of tilted surfaces (such as embankment side slope).
6. Conclusions
A theoretical model and its associated experimental procedure are
developed to measure the albedo of the curved surface like a roadway
embankment. We can measure the albedo of any curved or at target
surface by successively covering the target surface with a white mask,
a black mask, and the target surface and recording the diffuse reections
and the global horizontal solar radiation simultaneously. During the
measurement, the variation of the incident solar irradiance must be
less than a certain value, for instance, 20 W/m2 for a sunny weather
and 10 W/m2 for a cloudy day. The albedo of the target model (embankment prototypes) is estimated by:

t




It
I
It
Iw

b w

Iht Ihb
Iht I hw b


Iw
I
b
I hw Ihb

fI hw ; Ihb ; Iht g b 10 ; cloudy

fIhw ; Ihb ; Iht g b 20 ; sunny

where the operation of {,,} stands for the maximum difference of ,

, and .
The albedo of a typical embankment is about 0.05 to 0.08 lower than
a at surface that has the same surface material as the embankment surface. This difference suggests that an embankment in eld absorbs more
sunlight than its pre-existing ground surface and the adjacent ground
surface.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by Natural Science Foundation of China
(Grant nos. 41561015 and 51508114) and by the Science Foundation
of Guangxi (Grant no. 2015GXNSFBA139212).
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