A. Ice

B. Water

C. There's no difference

Ice is bright and helps cool the polar regions. It has an albedo of about 80 percent, so it reflects away most of the incoming sunlight. When sea ice melts, it exposes the dark ocean beneath. The ocean, in contrast, has an albedo of just 10 percent, meaning it absorbs 90 percent of the incoming sunlight. As the Arctic warms in response to global warming, sea ice melts and amplifies global warming by reducing the Arctic albedo further.