Just How River-Like Are Atmospheric Rivers?

Abstract

Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) are synoptic-scale conduits for poleward transport of heat and water, often associated with extreme rainfall. Using NASA surface heat flux observations and climate model simulations, we assess whether ARs are “rivers”, transporting heat and moisture over longer distances, or mostly local convergence. The observations indicate that ARs reduce extratropical surface energy fluxes, even during early development. This damping of surface fluxes during ARs is also simulated in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE, 2.1 (GISS-E2.1) nudged to (MERRA2) reanalysis winds. Furthermore, water provenance tracers in GISS-E2.1 identify the moisture source for ∼7,500 ARs globally during 2018–2022 as farther upstream and equatorward compared to climatology. These results quantitatively show that ARs source relatively less moisture from the surface beneath them and more from a greater distance than during non-AR times.