Now, researchers have uncovered another surprising symmetry hiding in the data: Earth's Eastern and Western halves appear to reflect the same amount of sunlight as well, they reported in a study published June 3 in the journal Nature. They found that the dividing line lies along a great circle that wraps around the whole planet. It's made up of two longitude lines: the 27 degrees east and 153 degrees west meridians, which stretch from the North to South Pole through Eastern Europe, Turkey, Central Africa, Norway and Alaska.
If the symmetry is a fundamental part of Earth’s climate, this finding could help scientists test and possibly improve global climate models to predict future warming.
Since the dawn of the space race in the late 1950s, scientists have wanted to figure out Earth's albedo. "That was a really burning question back then," Norman Loeb, an atmospheric scientist who leads NASA's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project who wasn't involved in the new study, told Live Science. And around a half century ago, they figured it out with satellite imagery.
Other analyses showed that the Northern Hemisphere's albedo was the same as the Southern Hemisphere's, although recent research co-authored by Loeb suggests that the Northern Hemisphere is now absorbing more light than the Southern, likely because of melting snow and ice, declining air pollution, and rising water vapor.
To identify the symmetry, Zhang and his colleagues analyzed 25 years of satellite observations from 2001 to 2025 collected by the CERES program, which uses satellites to measure Earth’s energy budget. Instruments on these satellites measure how much reflected sunlight bounces back into space, as well as how much heat is emitted from Earth
After running the first analysis, Zhang wrote he was both "absolutely amazed" and skeptical at what he saw, but three features stood out.
El Niño connection
Zhang and his authors hypothesize the East-West symmetry is tied to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a recurring climate pattern that shifts ocean temperatures and weather around the globe. When they examined the slight changes in the exact longitude of this symmetry, they found correlation with the ENSO record.
The Walker circulation helps drive the difference between El Niño and La Niña, recurring climate patterns, based on weaker or stronger Pacific trade winds, respectively.
The imaginary line runs along the 27 degrees east and 153 degrees west meridians. (Image credit: PeterHermesFurian via Getty Images)Related stories
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Since the models are designed to simulate Earth's interactions among the atmosphere, oceans, lands, crust and other parts, the new symmetry offers another way to test if current climate models are accurate. "I think the short-term benefit of this type of discovery is that it's a further test of climate models," Loeb noted.
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