We investigate the properties of the global attractor of hyperbolic balance laws on the circle, given by

ut + f(u)x = g(u).

The new tool of sub-attractors is introduced. They contain all solutions on the global attractor up to a given number of zeros. The paper proves finite dimensionality of all sub-attractors, provides a full parametrization of all sub-attractors and derives a system of ordinary differential equations for the embedding parameters that describe the full partial differential equation dynamics on the sub-attractor.