As a result, Amazonia and its big rivers act like water vapor bombs, which put water into the atmosphere and form a dense layer of clouds that contain large amounts of water. These clouds flow with the winds, forming incredible flying rivers. Because of the high temperatures in Amazonia and the large amount of rain that falls around the equator, Amazonia has this massive power to exchange water between the forest and the atmosphere. The 4,000-m high Andean cordillera at the west of the South American continent acts as a barrier to winds and clouds coming across the continent and from the Atlantic Ocean. The result is a massive amount of rainfall on the areas of central, eastern, and southern Brazil and its neighboring countries. This river of clouds transports billions of liters of water in vapor form each year, which is almost equal to the amount of water flowing from the Amazon River itself into the ocean each year. So, these rivers in the sky change the climate of the continent and, eventually, that of the whole world.

License information: CC BY 4.0
MPAA: G
Go to source: https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2018.00047