'Flying rivers' above South America form drainage networks resembling those on land

AI Summary

Researchers describe atmospheric moisture pathways over South America as networks resembling drainage systems on land. These “flying rivers” transport water through the atmosphere over long distances before releasing it as precipitation.

Water does not flow only through rivers on the ground. Vast quantities of water also move through the atmosphere, carried by winds from oceans and land before eventually falling as precipitation hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away. These persistent pathways of atmospheric moisture are often referred to as "aerial rivers" or "flying rivers."