Amazon’s ‘Flying Rivers’

News: Scientists warn that Amazon’s “flying rivers” are weakening with tree loss, raising drought risks for regions that depend on this rainfall-driven moisture transport.

About Amazon’s ‘Flying Rivers’

• “Flying rivers” are vast streams of water vapour generated by the rainforest and Atlantic evaporation that flow across the Amazon basin.
• This natural phenomenon spans eight Latin American countries and largely stems from the transpiration of the Amazon and the evaporation of the Atlantic Ocean.
• Mechanism:
  • Flying rivers are air currents that bring water vapour from Amazonia in the equatorial zone of Northern South America, down as far south as Northern Argentina.
  • The humidity carried by these “airborne rivers” is responsible for much of the rain that falls in the Centre-West, Southeast and South of Brazil.
  • When coming into contact with meteorological conditions such as a cold front, this humidity can be transformed into rain.
• Issue: Weakening flying rivers threaten regional water security, agriculture, wildlife, Indigenous livelihoods, and weather stability.
• Solutions: Need to include zero deforestation, stopping degradation and fires, restoration/reforestation of deforested areas, supporting Indigenous land rights, new conservation categories to protect flying rivers (atmospheric flows), and basin-wide cooperation.
• Importance of Amazon’s ‘flying rivers’
  • Sustaining water cycle: They move Atlantic moisture across the basin, sustaining Latin America’s water cycle and water availability.
  • Food Security: Rain delivered by these aerial rivers irrigates crops over vast areas, including Brazilian regions where most cropland is not irrigated.
  • Livelihoods: Indigenous ecological calendars for planting, fishing, and hunting depend on predictable rains from flying rivers.
  • Ecosystems Conservation: Moisture carried to the Andean highlands sustains sensitive ecosystems and protected areas such as Manu National Park.
  • Regional Climate: Acting as a rainforest “pump,” flying rivers stabilize rainfall patterns and help limit prolonged droughts.