Despite the unequal partitioning of land and aerosol sources between the hemispheres, Earth’s albedo is observed to be persistently symmetric about the equator. This symmetry is determined by the compensation of clouds to the clear-sky albedo. Here, the variability of this interhemispheric albedo symmetry is explored by decomposing observed radiative fluxes in the CERES EBAF satellite data record into components reflected by the atmosphere, clouds, and the surface. We find that the degree of interhemispheric albedo symmetry has not changed significantly throughout the observational record. The variability of the interhemispheric difference in reflected solar radiation (asymmetry) is strongly determined by tropical and subtropical cloud cover, particularly those related to nonneutral phases of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). As ENSO is the most significant source of interannual variability in reflected radiation on a global scale, this underscores the interhemispheric albedo symmetry as a robust feature of Earth’s current annual mean climate. Comparing this feature in observations with simulations from coupled models reveals that the degree of modeled albedo symmetry is mostly dependent on biases in reflected radiation in the midlatitudes, and that models that overestimate its variability the most have larger biases in reflected radiation in the tropics. The degree of model albedo symmetry is improved when driven with historical sea surface temperatures, indicating that the degree of symmetry in Earth’s albedo is dependent on the representation of cloud responses to coupled ocean–atmosphere processes.

The Earth's albedo is observed to be symmetric between the hemispheres on the annual mean timescale, despite the clear-sky albedo being asymmetrically higher in the Northern Hemisphere due to more land area and aerosol sources; this is because the mean cloud distribution currently compensates for the clear-sky asymmetry almost exactly. We investigate the evolution of the hemispheric difference in albedo in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) coupled model simulations following an abrupt quadrupling of CO₂ concentrations, to which all models respond with an initial decrease of albedo in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) due to loss of Arctic sea ice. Models disagree over whether the net effect of NH cloud responses is to reduce or amplify initial NH albedo reductions. After the initial response, the evolution of the hemispheric albedo difference diverges among models, with some models remaining stably at their new hemispheric albedo difference and others returning towards their pre-industrial difference primarily through a reduction in SH cloud cover. Whereas local increases in cloud cover contribute to negative shortwave cloud feedback, the cross-hemispheric communicating mechanism found to be primarily responsible for restoring hemispheric symmetry in the models studied implies positive shortwave cloud feedback.

Earth’s albedo has remained symmetric between the northern and southern hemispheres over the satellite record, a feature that climate models have difficulty capturing. We investigate causes of these biases using a perturbed parameter ensemble of atmospheric simulations to probe the sensitivity of the albedo symmetry to cloud properties and the processes that control them. We find that the most significant parameters to simulated albedo symmetry impact precipitation, turbulent dissipation, and sea salt aerosol emissions. Constraining shortwave cloud feedbacks using the observed albedo symmetry leads to a range of +0.61±0.24 W m^-2 K^-1 (66% confidence). These are stronger than the model’s control settings due to greater loss of subtropical low clouds and weaker negative cloud phase feedback. Comparing the constrained and control parameter settings shows a preference towards settings that would reduce the control simulation’s biases, indicating that the constraint can select for representations that capture the observed cloud cover.

Clouds in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) extratropics make up for the Northern Hemisphere (NH)’s greater tropical cloud cover and clear-sky albedo, making Earth’s planetary albedo hemispherically symmetric over the satellite record. Knowledge of a mechanism for maintaining hemispheric albedo symmetry would prove valuable for understanding cloud responses to external forcings. Using simulations of an Earth-like aquaplanet, we investigate the role of ocean heat transport (OHT) in determining hemispheric differences in cloud cover. With increasing northward cross-equatorial OHT, the SH becomes dominant in low cloud cover at all latitudes, while NH increases in high clouds are negated by reductions in low clouds. We describe a dynamical link between the increasing SH extratropical cloud cover and increasing NH tropical cloud cover with more northward cross-equatorial OHT. We investigate the effects of clouds and condensation on AHT responses, which increase southward AHT through latent heating in the extratropics and radiative effects in lower latitudes, aiding in reducing the hemispheric energy contrast. Because SH cloud increases are greater than NH cloud reductions, increasing cloud asymmetry with more northward cross-equatorial OHT leads to net increases in global cloud cover and cooling.