Land surface albedo represents the proportion of the incoming radiative flux reflected by the surface. It is highly variable in space and time over terrestrial surfaces and plays a key role in surface-atmosphere interaction processes. particular, it is used in numerical weather forecast and climate models to parametrize surface boundary radiative conditions. Hence, the accurate knowledge of surface albedo at the appropriate time and space scales is essential in estimating radiation balance components. Unfortunately, surface albedo in numerical models is commonldy prescribed from low-resolution seasonal data sets. Such data sets are often based on limited ground-based albedo observations and information on surface and vegetation types, even though such approaches do not accurately account for the actual structural effects of the underlying surface.