Extreme flooding is being observed in various regions around the world, with recent examples including devastating floods in Bangladesh, China, and Canada.
The increasing frequency of these floods reminds us that the rapidly warming atmosphere now holds much more moisture than before, according to scientists.
In April 2023, severe flooding hit Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, and Jordan, accompanied by intense thunderstorms, hailstorms, and excessive rainfall. Meteorologists later found that the atmosphere in these regions was carrying record amounts of moisture, surpassing even the conditions of 2005. Two months later, Chile experienced 500 millimeters of rainfall in just three days—so much water fell from the sky that it even melted some of the snow on the Andes Mountains.
This caused widespread flooding, destroying roads, bridges, and water supply systems in the area.
A year ago, parts of Australia were struck by flooding that local politicians called a "rain bomb." The flood resulted in over 20 deaths and forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
Scientists say these events are due to atmospheric rivers, which are becoming increasingly intense. Atmospheric rivers are getting longer, wider, and more destructive, putting millions of people worldwide at risk of flooding, according to NASA.
These "sky rivers" or "flying rivers" are long and wide columns of water vapor from the surface to the atmosphere, usually originating from tropical regions and then moving toward colder polar areas. These flying rivers carry about 90% of the Earth's mid-latitude water vapor.
An atmospheric river typically measures around 2,000 kilometers long, 500 kilometers wide, and about 3 kilometers deep, though they are becoming longer and wider over time. Sometimes they extend more than 5,000 kilometers. However, people cannot see these rivers directly; they only observe accumulated clouds.
Brian Kan, an atmospheric researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said, "These rivers can be detected using infrared and microwave frequencies."
"Thus, satellites can be quite effective for observing global water vapor and atmospheric rivers."
The enormous and powerful atmospheric rivers can release 15 times more moisture than the longest river in North America, the Mississippi. On average, the amount of water they release is nearly twice the regular flow of the world’s largest river, the Amazon.
Atmospheric rivers have always existed, but scientists say that global warming is generating more water vapor, complicating the situation further. This results in massive amounts of water falling to the Earth's surface in a short time, leading to disastrous floods and landslides.
Research has shown that since 1960, global atmospheric water vapor has increased by up to 20% and continues to rise with increasing temperatures.
Recent research from the Institute of Geosciences at Potsdam University in Germany has shown that atmospheric rivers have been lingering for extended periods in tropical South America, North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. This means significant rainfall that can have severe impacts on the Earth's surface.
According to another survey from Khalifa University in the UAE, a similar situation occurred across the Middle East in April 2023.
"Our high-resolution simulations have revealed atmospheric rivers. When these rivers flow at high speeds from northeastern Africa to western Iran, they produce heavy rainfall," the survey noted.
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