Surface albedo in the Arctic is one of the most important factors influencing the polar heat budget. The impact of variations of the Arctic sea ice albedo on the heat budget of the earth-atmosphere system and on global climate change is significant. I n this paper

the surface albedo in the Arctic was derived using the Level-1B （ L1B） data from the advanced very high resolution radiometer （ AVHRR） onboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration （ NOAA） polar-orbiting satellites. We applied narrow-to-broadband conversion

anisotropic correction

atmospheric correction

and cloud detection to the satellite data

and o btained broadband surface albedo products in clear conditions with a 4 km spatial resolution. Comparisons between the AVHRR albedo products and in situ measurements collected during the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean （ SHEBA） project showed a bias of - 0. 07 and a standard deviation of 0. 05 during the spring-winter season. Monthly averaged NOAA / AVHRR surface albedo data from 2008 to 2010

combined with in situ measurements from the fourth Chinese Arctic research expedition

were used to study the variation of the Arctic sea ice albedo. The influence of snowfall and ice ridges on the variation of surface albedo was a nalyzed. The albedo decreased significantly and rapidly by about 0. 3 when the snow was melting. Comparing between the albedo variations in the rough multi-year ice area and smooth first-year ice area shows an albedo difference of 0. 2 during the melting s eason. The results indicate that the melting of snow and ice was the dominant factor for the variation of the Arctic albedo.