Scientists caught off guard by rare shift unfolding high above Earth: 'A rare opportunity'

Rising global temperatures driven by the changing climate are causing a lot of ice to melt in the Northern Hemisphere, which threatens the natural habitat of local wildlife and our environment at large.

A group of scientists recently found that atmospheric rivers can potentially slow down this melting and contribute to saving the massive Greenland Ice Sheet. Atmospheric rivers are large and narrow sections of the atmosphere that carry massive amounts of moisture from regions near the equator to the poles, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

They are responsible for 90% of the movement of moisture between the tropics and the poles, and they can produce substantial rain and snowfall. The rivers influence the formation of clouds, sea ice, air temperature, and more.

An intense atmospheric river event in 2022 was the focus of a study by a team of researchers from Nordic countries. They found that it caused so much snowfall in Greenland that it delayed the start of the summer melt by 11 days and offset Greenland's 2022 net mass loss by 8%.

"Using high-elevation firn core sampling and isotopic analysis allowed us to pinpoint the extraordinary snowfall from this atmospheric river. It's a rare opportunity to directly link such an event to Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance and dynamics," said Hannah Bailey, a geochemist at the University of Oulu and lead author of the study.

The Arctic is warming a lot faster than the rest of the planet. This is having many adverse effects, like melting ice and rising sea levels. It is also causing heat waves and disruptions to the normal flow of ocean currents.

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This impacts humans and wildlife in many ways. Higher sea levels could mean higher tides during extreme weather events, an increased spread of disease, and disruptions to our food systems.

Atmospheric rivers have primarily been associated with accelerating ice melt in the Arctic. But after the 2022 event dropped 16 billion tons of snow on Greenland, scientists are open to the possibility that they could also help counteract the melt.

"Depending on their seasonal timing, we find that the impact of [atmospheric rivers] on ice sheet health is more nuanced than previously thought, and under their forecast intensification they could significantly recharge Greenland's mass balance," the researchers said.

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