5-8 May 2025 Saint Martin d'Hères (France)

Workshop motivation

The atmospheric rivers that make landfall in Antarctica are extreme atmospheric conditions likely to cause major impact on ice melt, snowfall and the stability of glacial plateaus. Over the past two years, a series of extreme events have highlighted their key role in Antarctic climate and surface mass balance, and offered the opportunity to develop collaborations, as after the exceptional heatwave of March 15-19, 2022.

This collaboration took the form of annual workshops and the creation of the Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers Group (AARG). The aim of these workshops was to promote collaboration between different institutes and to analyze the current state of our research. Last year, in Boulder, Colorado, the AARG workshop led to writing a review paper on the state of knowledge on atmospheric rivers in Antarctica (under review). It now seems necessary to widen our field of action and see if other communities could offer complementary knowledge, new visions that could break down current blocking points. This is the case in the Arctic, where multi-disciplinary studies are being carried out by significantly different research communities.

The aim of this new workshop in Grenoble, from May 5 to 8 2025, is to aggregate the current state of knowledge on Antarctica, but also to broaden our scope and propose wider discussions, for example on the Arctic. It is also about exploring the value of new multidisciplinary studies that could offer a new vision of atmospheric rivers. And to find time for a nice walk in the French Alps after the conference (see Picture).

 

Mountains around grenoble

"Reaching the top" (Picture taken from a summit around Grenoble)

Where

This will be a hybrid workshop with physical attendance at the Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (IGE) on the University Grenoble Alpes campus. Details for remote attendance will be provided at a later date. If you have any questions about registration or any other matter, please don't hesitate to email Vincent Favier at vincent.favier@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr and Victoire Buffet at victoire.buffet@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr.

Proposed Sessions

Abstract submission deadline: March 30, 2025

 

What are Atmospheric Rivers (ARs)?

 

To systematically ascribe particular characteristics to Atmospheric Rivers (ARs), we need tools to detect and measure these phenomena. Various detection and ranking techniques have been developed to characterize ARs, especially in regions like Antarctica. However, are ARs specific events? If so, how/why do they differ from similar synoptic conditions? Why are they so distinct, and how can we describe them more accurately? Moreover, is it possible to capture their extreme nature and high temporal and spatial resolution through direct measurements by satellites or in the field?

This session aims to define ARs comprehensively, exploring their unique properties and the methodologies used for their detection and measurement. We seek to improve our ability to monitor and predict these significant weather events, ultimately contributing to better preparedness and response strategies. In particular, we expect contributions to discuss the latest advancements in satellite technology and field research that enhance our understanding of ARs.

 

Antarctic AR Physics

 

Through varying levels of spatial scales, Antarctic ARs have distinctive dynamical characteristics from their origin points to their eventual landfall. This typical AR life cycle includes processes at different spatial scales, along with interactions with characteristic cloud water (or aerosol) content and microphysics. ARs also present specific energy characteristics, especially in terms of latent heat transport, which is inherent to their definition but also amplify their transport through the enhancement of atmospheric dynamics.

This session aims to clarify the current state of knowledge regarding AR physics, highlighting state-of-the-art modeling results and observations that shed more light on the environment in which AR develop, and with which they interact.

 

AR Impacts and Extremes

 

ARs cause circulation anomalies over the Southern Ocean and significantly impact surface variables over the Antarctic continent, such as precipitation, temperature, melt. These impacts destabilize Antarctica's vulnerable ice shelves and sea ice. This session aims to provide a comprehensive review of the critical influences of ARs on the ice sheet mass balance and local ecosystems, posing challenges in projecting climate change impacts in these regions.

In particular we expect to discuss the latest research on the impacts of ARs, including case studies of extreme events and their consequences, to better understand and mitigate their effects on the Antarctic environment.

 

Atmospheric Rivers in the Arctic and Other Regions

 

Until now the meeting of the Antarctic Atmospheric River Group only focused on events occurring in the Southern  Hemisphere. However, numerous studies have been conducted on ARs in other regions, including the Arctic where impacts on ecosystems and populations are evident. Arctic ARs sligthly differ from Antarctic AR, in particular because of distinct distributions of continents and oceans.

This session aims to discuss and compare the studies of polar ARs across different regions, highlighting similarities and differences. We will explore how insights from Arctic ARs can inform our understanding of Antarctic ARs, and vice versa, thereby enhancing our overall knowledge of these phenomena and their global impacts. Communications on AR impacts on societies or ecosystems in the Arctic are welcome.

 

Past and Future ARs

 

Studying ARs in the past are crucial for understanding their nature, predicting their future evolution as well as their impacts and trends. This session will focus on the reconstruction of past AR events using water isotopes, aerosols content, which provide valuable insights into historical climate patterns and AR characteristics. Additionally, we will explore future projections of ARs through climate models, examining how changes in climate variables might alter the frequency, intensity, and impacts of ARs in the Antarctic region.

This session aims at presenting paleo-studies and future climate projections to offer a comprehensive view of ARs over time. We expect this session to discuss reconstructions based on long simulations (PiControl, PMIP, etc). Part of this session will be dedicated to integrate proxy tracers (aerosol transport, content in water isotopes) for ARs, that could be used for AR retrieval in particular in ice cores.
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