This dataverse provides

• a global database of water vapor atmospheric rivers (ARs) based on multiple reanalysis products;
• a global database of aerosol ARs based on the MERRA-2 reanalysis;
• the AR detection code; and
• codes for a suite of AR model evaluation metrics.

Water vapor AR detection is based on the tARget algorithm originally introduced in Guan and Waliser (2015, JGR; Version 1), refined in Guan et al. (2018, JHM; Version 2), enhanced in Guan and Waliser (2019, JGR; Version 3) with tracking capability, and further refined in Guan and Waliser (2024, Sci. Data; Version 4) to better handle "zonal" ARs as well as ARs in tropical and polar areas.

Aerosol AR detection is largely based on the tARget algorithm originally introduced in Guan and Waliser (2015, JGR; Version 1) for water vapor ARs, with a few modifications as described in Chakraborty et al. (2021, GRL) and Chakraborty et al. (2022, ACP).

For a list of studies using the AR data or the AR detection algorithm/code from this dataverse, see here.

Latest version of the AR data/code:

• Water vapor ARs (Data | Code)
• Aerosol ARs (Data | Modifications to water vapor AR code)

AR data and code were developed with support from NASA and the California Department of Water Resources, and are provided here in consistency with the communities' and NASA’s interest in open-source science.