Anyone who comes across the expression “flying rivers” is immediately startled. Is it some kind of story or tale? Is it some kind of prank or joke? Do not. Flying rivers exist and are closer than you think. Right now, there are many of them over our heads, invisible, carrying amounts of water equivalent to the flows of the largest rivers in the world. But what are flying rivers?
The expression "Amazon's flying rivers” was created to designate the enormous amount of water released by the Amazon Forest in the form of water vapor into the atmosphere, being transported by air currents. According to INPA (National Institute for Research in the Amazon), a single tree 10 meters tall emits an average of 300 liters of water per day, more than double the total amount of water consumed by a person during the day for drinking, cooking, bathing, etc.
How it works?
The forest works as a "water pump", that is, it captures water from the soil and emits it into the atmosphere in the form of vapor, through a process called
evapotranspiration. Part of this volume of water is transformed into rain that falls on the forest itself, another part is transported by the atmosphere. It is estimated that the amount of water carried by the flying rivers is equal to or greater than the flow of the Amazon River – the largest in the world – which transports more than 200 thousand cubic meters of water per second.First, the flying rivers head west until they reach the Andes Mountains. There, they come across this real wall of more than 4000 meters, which causes part of this moisture to precipitate, that is, to become rain or even snow. This precipitation is largely responsible for the formation of sources of large rivers, among them, the rivers that give rise to the Amazon itself. Another part of this moisture is “returned” back to the interior of the continent, supplying the Midwest, Southeast and South regions of Brazil, as well as other locations, such as the Rio da Prata basin.
With that, from this understanding, as well as from studies undertaken by the project "Expedição Rios Voadores", it is observed that the devastation of the Amazon rainforest may directly influence the climate throughout South America and also in other parts of the world. Because, without forest, there will be no flying rivers, humidity will fall and air masses will be warmer, contributing to the intensive increase in temperatures.
By Rodolfo Alves Pena
Graduated in Geography
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/brasil/rios-voadores-amazonia.htm
