Flying river

The flying river is a movement of large quantities of water vapor transported in the atmosphere from the Amazon Basin to other parts of South America.

Other air masses travel northwards from the Amazon basin, passing over Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname.

[1] In 2009 Antonio Nobre, a Brazilian climate scientist, stated that without the flying river, much of southern Brazil, which produces approximately 70% of the country's GNP, would be arid desert.

[3] With its large surface area and abundant rainfall, Brazil receives more rain in a year (estimated at 15,000 cubic kilometres (3,600 cu mi)) than any other country.

[4] In 2007, the Swiss-Brazilian pilot Gérard Moss joined with scientists to initiate a project to evaluate the source of the atmospheric water over Brazil and examine the possibility that recent droughts in the country are being caused by the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.