What characteristic best describes the areas with the lowest levels of reflected shortwave radiation in both june in the northern hemisphere and december in the southern hemisphere?

Bright parts of Earth like snow, ice, and clouds, reflect the most light; dark surfaces, like the oceans, reflect less light.

Explanation:

Shortwave radiation is not absorbed in the ocean’s surface skin layer, but instead penetrates to 1–100 m. The absorption decreases exponentially with depth.   Shortwave radiation originates mainly as light from the sun. The light that makes it through the atmosphere to the land surface is mostly absorbed, but some is reflected. Open water absorbs nearly all the sunlight falling upon it.  Fresh snow is the most highly reflective natural substance on the land surface, reflecting over 80% of solar radiation, but snow progressively absorbs more radiation as it ages and compacts. These spatial and temporal variations in land-surface reflectivity have huge consequences for the surface energy balance and the distribution of surface heating.

Learn more:

Which type of radiation is the smallest in size?

         

What type of solar radiation does not reach the surface of the Earth?  

         

Keywords: earth, radiation, reflectivity, ocean, snow, clouds, absorption

Economy is the answer