Dr. Jones said in an interview that improved satellite imagery available in recent years allowed scientists to clearly identify what they call "atmospheric rivers" — moisture-filled air currents up to 200 miles wide and 2,000 miles long, which flow from tropical regions of the Pacific Ocean to the West Coast.
But the rivers of moisture in the atmosphere are rarely measured and never governed.
The storm was fueled by what meteorologists refer to as the "Pineapple Express" — an atmospheric river of moisture that is whipped up over the Pacific's tropical waters and swept north with the jet stream.
Perhaps most worrisome, the storm is one of a string that is expected to continue dumping more rain and snow through Thursday, part of a so-called atmospheric river of moisture known as the Pineapple Express.
The extreme weather pummeling the Sierra Nevada is the result of a meteorological phenomenon known as the "Pineapple Express," which ushers an atmospheric river of moisture-rich warm air north from the tropical waters of Hawaii.
It lasts until wintertime rains arrive in November or December, when "atmospheric rivers" carry tropical moisture into the otherwise arid region.
Flying rivers, consisting of moisture emitted from trees and carried by clouds of vapor that rise out of the rainforest, are a major source of rain for south and central Brazil.
There is almost no precipitation and little natural vegetation in the region (Cortes 1976), although the major rivers provide adequate moisture for the few crops growing in the irrigated alluvial soils of the river valleys (Ferreyra et al. 1997).
Meanwhile, a rare type of frontal system further west brought severe flooding to parts of Wales as a river of tropical moisture fed heavy rains across the hills.
In EA, the tree prefers river banks where moisture is plenty year-round (Ibid).
In Fig. 2, the individual TWS components from model simulations, namely river water, soil moisture, and groundwater, are also shown.
