Detection of atmospheric rivers: Evaluation and application of an algorithm for global studies

Abstract Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are narrow, elongated, synoptic jets of water vapor that play important roles in the global water cycle and regional weather/hydrology. A technique is developed for objective detection of ARs on the global domain based on characteristics of the integrated water vapor transport (IVT). AR detection involves thresholding 6‐hourly fields of ERA‐Interim IVT based on the 85th percentile specific to each season and grid cell and a fixed lower limit of 100 kg m −1 s −1 and checking for the geometry requirements of length >2000 km, length/width ratio >2, and other considerations indicative of AR conditions. Output of the detection includes the AR shape, axis, landfall location,…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• JP
  Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• UO
  University of California, San Diego