The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is used to study the inhomogeneous absorption of linearly polarized laser radiation below a rough surface. The results are first analyzed in the frequency domain and compared to the efficacy factor theory of Sipe and coworkers. Both approaches show that the absorbed energy shows a periodic nature, not only in the direction orthogonal to the laser polarization, but also in the direction parallel to it. It is shown that the periodicity is not always close to the laser wavelength for the perpendicular direction. In the parallel direction, the periodicity is about lambda/Re((n) over tilde), with (n) over tilde being the complex refractive index of the medium. The space-domain FDTD results show a periodicity in the inhomogeneous energy absorption similar to the periodicity of the low-and high-spatial-frequency laser-induced periodic surface structures depending on the material's excitation.