Climate change, which is marked by global warming, has various negative impacts on Planet Earth. In a recent study, scientists worry that the formation of the 'river in the sky' phenomenon will become more and more frequent.
As quoted by us from Euro News, Tuesday (25/1/2022) this river in the sky is the nickname for the large concentration of water vapor that extends in the atmosphere. When they hit objects such as mountains, extreme rain or snow can occur and cause flash floods.
This weather phenomenon accounts for about 20% of the water flow on Earth. However, when a very large quantity of water is released in a short period of time, large floods can occur and result in disaster.
Researchers from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, made several models to examine this phenomenon under several weather conditions. This was done after the extreme rains in East Asia in recent years.
"As the name suggests, rivers in the sky are long and short bursts of concentrated water vapor flowing through the atmosphere. When one encounters an obstacle such as a mountain range, it can produce extreme levels of rain or snow," they wrote.
They found that if the temperature rose by 7.2 degrees Celsius in the worst case scenario, the river in the sky would strengthen and cause heavy rains across East Asia. The simulation shows affected areas including Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan and northern China.
Although the focus of the research is East Asia, the research team stated that the river in the sky research model can also be applied to other areas with mountainous areas.
"It has become increasingly clear that global warming does not only mean warmer temperatures. This creates an important need to predict and prepare for such changes," the research team wrote.