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Have gathered from papers like this one (*) that "Albedo is differentiated into two general types: (1) normal, reflective or geometric albedo, and (2) bond albedo". The document explained that Geometric Albedo usually is bigger than the Bond Albedo, which often just reflects two-thirds of the reflective light of Geometric Albedo.

Wikipedia points out in this article about Bond Albedo; that Bond Albedo sometimes can be greater than Geometric Albedo, which apparently is the case with Venus and Mars.

Question is; How Is this possible? What is behind this phenomenon? I think Wikipedia is trying to explain it, but I have difficulty grasping it. Can it be explained in an easier way? Examples with pictures would be ideal.

(*) "Background Reading to Albedo Investigation" (Google this document title)

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  • $\begingroup$ There's an interesting and potentially helpful discussion in Zephyr's answer to Why is Enceladus's albedo greater than 1? $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Feb 20, 2021 at 9:15
  • $\begingroup$ Not my field, but based on your link, A (bond albedo) = p*q where p is the geometric albedo and q is the phase integral. So, if q < 1.0, then geometric > Bond. If q > 1.0, geometric < Bond. $\endgroup$
    – Stuart Robbins
    Commented Feb 21, 2021 at 7:18

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