In the 1990s, scientists began to use the term "atmospheric river" to refer to strips of water vapor in the air that can be as narrow as a few hundred miles wide, but thousands of miles long. They ...

A plume of upper-atmospheric lithium pollution observed in February 2025 has been attributed to the re-entry of a specific rocket stage. The results, published in Communications Earth & Environment, ...

Atmospheric rivers are jets of sky-born water vapor that transport tropical moisture to higher latitudes, and they can be a blessing. In some years they provide 60% of California’s annual ...

A herd of light-colored cattle grazing on brown grassland, with a few facing the camera and others scattered across an open field. Satellite data estimate that methane emissions from livestock rose 15 ...

When a series of back-to-back atmospheric rivers hammered the West Coast in December 2025, the storms killed at least five people, triggered devastating flooding across every western state and forced ...