How is Earth's light reflection symmetry tied to El Niño?

Earth reflects light like a mirror, and how much it shows depends on whether it’s wearing a wet suit or a dry suit, that's what happens with El Niño.

Imagine the Earth is a playground. Most of it is covered in sand, that’s like a dry suit. Sand reflects light well, so we see more brightness from Earth.

But during El Niño, warm water moves across the ocean like kids running on a wet floor. This wet floor covers parts of Earth, and water doesn’t reflect light as well as sand does, it’s like wearing a wet suit instead of a dry suit. So less light is reflected back to space.

Because of this change in reflection, the whole light show from Earth gets a little dimmer during El Niño. It's like turning down a lamp, you still see the room, but it feels a bit cozier and less bright.

This "dimming" helps scientists know when El Niño is happening, just by looking at how much light Earth sends back into space!