Long-term Atmospheric River History in California
Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are associated with some of the largest flood-producing extreme precipitation events in western North America. As the primary storm mechanism in California, the difference of a few large AR storms in a year dramatically changes precipitation totals and drives the state towards water abundance or drought. Current records of AR activity are limited to just 70 years of instrumental data. So, the key question motivating this work was: what is the long-term history of AR storms in California? We can get insight into past extreme precipitation by looking to the sediment record. Under the right circumstances, clues to