Huang Yuefei

Sky River: Discovery, concept, and implicationsfor future research

Presented in this paper is a brief introduction to our recent discovery and definition of Sky River, as well as its implications for future research. Based on meteorological reanalysis data, we found that there exist highly structured water vapor conveyance systems in the troposphere of the atmosphere. The water vapor conveyance systems have higher vertically integrated flux than their immediate environments, consisting the dominant channels from local scale to global scale for atmospheric water vapor transfer. The water vapor transfer systems in the troposphere share the similarity of having high water (vapor) conveyance with land surface rivers and thus can be referred to as “River in the Sky”, or simply “Sky River”. Sky River is different from “atmospheric river” essentially in that it is a global system where water vapor concentrated and conveyed by atmospheric circulations, rather than the transient and local high flux belts found in previous studies. Studies on the Sky Rivers will help us to have a new vision about global atmospheric water vapor transfer and a better understanding of global water cycle.