Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40386311›Full record

ArticleCommunications earth & environment2025

Rising atmospheric moisture escalates the future impact of atmospheric rivers in the Antarctic climate system.

Michelle L Maclennan, Andrew C Winters, Christine A Shields, Rudradutt Thaker, Léonard Barthelemy, Francis Codron, Jonathan D Wille

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications earth & environment, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Michelle L MaclennanDepartment of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7591-2704
Andrew C WintersDepartment of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1044-3302
Christine A ShieldsClimate and Global Dynamics Lab, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO USA.ORCID 0000-0003-4481-1377
Rudradutt ThakerDepartment of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI USA.ORCID 0009-0003-5005-9000
Léonard BarthelemyLaboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat (LOCEAN/IPSL), Sorbonne Université; CNRS; MNHN; IRD, Paris, France.ORCID 0009-0002-0479-2116
Francis CodronLaboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat (LOCEAN/IPSL), Sorbonne Université; CNRS; MNHN; IRD, Paris, France.ORCID 0000-0001-7038-6189
Jonathan D WilleInstitute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Despite their relative rarity, atmospheric rivers are key contributors to the surface mass balance of Antarctica. However, the future role of atmospheric rivers in modulating Antarctic sea-level contributions is a major area of uncertainty. Here, we leverage high-resolution climate simulations to show that Antarctic atmospheric rivers are highly sensitive to future increases in atmospheric moisture, leading to a doubling of atmospheric river frequencies and 2.5 × increase in precipitation from 2066-2100 under present-day thresholds for atmospheric river detection. However, future precipitation impacts are critically dependent on the detection threshold: accounting for moisture increases in the threshold produces smaller, regional changes in atmospheric river frequency, primarily resulting from an eastward shift in the polar jet maximum wind speeds. Our results underscore the importance of using large ensembles to quantify Antarctic atmospheric river responses to variability in projected moisture, which may not be captured when using only a few ensemble members.

Indexed as

Atmospheric dynamicsCryospheric scienceHydrology

Identifiers

PMID40386311
PMCPMC12078180

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.