Rivers in the sky over Antarctica, captured in 3D

Atmospheric rivers are responsible for transporting moisture and play an important role in snowfall over the ice sheet. However, conventional two-dimensional detection methods have been unsuccessful at capturing these systems accurately. Now, researchers have developed a new 3D algorithm for the detection of atmospheric rivers. Their findings reveal that atmospheric rivers form vertically structured moisture plumes that exert strong control over Antarctic precipitation and its long-term variability.

Raccontata daeurekalert.org