Atmospheric rivers are weather phenomena that bring massive amounts of water vapor around the world. They flow similarly to rivers, so it is easy to see how they got their name.

The locations of these atmospheric rivers also move over time, which can have a dramatic impact on the ground weather around them. A new study was published in the journal Science Advances that looked at how two major atmospheric rivers have shifted in the last several decades.

The researchers at UC Santa Barbara have found that these ‘rivers’ have migrated between 6° and 10° in the past 40 years. This has occurred with both the rivers in the northern hemisphere and the southern. They found that the atmospheric rivers in the north moved further north, toward the poles. And the one in the south moved south, toward that pole.

Moving this huge amount of water vapor toward the poles means that places in, for example, Southern California that have long gotten heavy rainfall at certain times of the year may experience less of it. This can lead to some dangerous situations with drought and wildfires that are worse than ever.

The areas further north, on the other hand, will experience even more rain than they already get. This can result in serious flooding, rising river and lake levels, and other issues. In the winter months, it can lead to more snow or other issues.

One previous study estimated that as much as 50% of the precipitation on the west coast of the United States is delivered via these atmospheric rivers, so this is a major issue.

While researchers have made a number of predictions based on their findings, they acknowledge that a lot more information is needed to know the full extent of the impact that the movement of these atmospheric rivers will have.

To learn more about atmospheric rivers, watch this video from the NOAA:

I had no idea atmospheric rivers had such a significant impact.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about 50 amazing finds on Google Earth.