One of the terms used in the earth sciences, which includes meteorology and to a greater extent climatology, is Albedo-not to be confused with the other word. It is simply a reflection coefficient.
Objects tend to absorb light as various wavelengths and reflect light at others. That is why we have colors. An object that absorbs most of the light and reflects very little will have a lower albedo than an object that reflects most of the light it receives.
If an object absorbed all of the light it received, then it would have an albedo of 0. If it reflected all of the light it received, then it would have an albedo of 1. Most objects fall in between. The oceans can have an albedo as low as .07 while fresh snow can have an albedo as high of .9 or .95.
