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Science & Medicine

Atmospheric river flight

Mt. Diablo is silhouetted above the Sacramento River delta as seen from a NOAA research aircraft flying into an incoming atmospheric river storm.

Mt. Diablo is silhouetted above the Sacramento River delta as seen from a NOAA research aircraft flying into an incoming atmospheric river storm.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Atmospheric rivers form all over the globe. But there has been growing interest in the West Coast’s storms as scientists recognize the vital role they play in the fluctuating water supply of the nation’s most populous state.

Atmospheric river flight

Research scientist Ryan Spackman, left, and flight director Mike Holmes study incoming data as their P-3 research aircraft flies through an atmospheric river storm over Northern California.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Atmospheric river flight

Robert Mitchell co-pilots a NOAA P-3 research aircraft over the Sacramento River Deep Water Ship Channel. It’s the sunrise beginning of a seven-hour mission to sample an atmospheric river as it makes landfall in Northern California.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Atmospheric river flight

NOAA engineer Charles Lynch drops a data collecting instrument into a chute on the floor of a P-3 research aircraft flying off the coast of Northern California.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Atmospheric river flight

NOAA meteorologist Lisa Darby monitors data being collected during a flight through an atmospheric river off the coast of San Francisco.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Atmospheric river flight

A NOAA P-3 research aircraft flies over an atmospheric river that brought several inches of rain to Northern California.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Atmospheric river flight

A NOAA P-3 research aircraft at McClellan Airfield in Sacramento as an atmospheric river storm drops rain on the area.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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