Fig. 1: Global AR equivalent flows and their impacts on three river basins.
From: Atmospheric rivers emerge as future freshwater reserves and heat stocks
a Average AR equivalent flows in the meridional direction at different latitudes (positive values indicate poleward flux; ×108 kg s−1). b, c The solid lines are the exceedance probability of global AR equivalent flow in the meridional direction exceeding Amazon River scale (1.6 × 10⁸ kg s⁻¹) in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the red dashed lines are FAR variations across latitudes. d, f, h Schematic maps of the Yangtze River basin, Loire River basin, and Sacramento River basin, showing how they are influenced by ARs. The red lines represent the basin boundaries, while the yellow rectangular boxes indicate the areas used for calculating the AR moisture budget for each basin. Yellow triangles mark the locations of flow stations in the Yangtze River and Sacramento River basins, whereas the Loire River uses basin-averaged runoff data. WNPSH is the Western North Pacific Subtropical High. e, g, i The annual variations of AR moisture budget and river runoff. Red dashed lines represent the monthly average runoff for the three basins, while the other lines show AR moisture budget variations at 10-day intervals under three scenarios: historical (1980–2009, green), SSP585 near future (2025–2054, blue) and SSP585 far future (2070–2099, orange). The shading represents the uncertainty range (the range between the maximum and minimum value) across the CMIP6 models.
