2024 International Atmospheric Rivers Conference Held in San Diego, CA

June 24, 2024

IARC-2024 was a jam-packed, 4-day, fast-paced, and lively hybrid (virtual and in-person) conference, held June 24 – 27.

The conference, hosted by CW3E, returned to Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2024 and included over 60 oral presentations, 20 three-minute “lightning” presentations, and 38 posters! The audience exceeded 150 participants from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. This year, the conference expanded to include the following themes, representing the continued growth in enthusiasm and interest among the global AR community in AR science and research:

IARC-2024 Themes

  • Physical, dynamic, & microphysical aspects of ARs
  • Aerosol & biochemical aspects of ARs
  • ARs as a component of compound events
  • Environmental and socioeconomic impacts of ARs
  • Observing, identification, and monitoring of ARs
  • Forecasting of ARs in the short-range, medium-range, S2S, and seasonal time horizons
  • ARs in past, present, and future climates
  • Role of ARs in the changing Cryosphere

2024 IARC attendees

The idea of IARC was born from an AR Workshop hosted by CW3E in 2015. Dr. F. Martin Ralph organized a steering committee of international experts, which then convened the first IARC.

The main goal of the conference was to bring together a diverse and global community of experts across the fields of atmospheric, hydrologic, oceanic, and polar sciences, as well as water management, civil engineering, and ecology, to advance the state of atmospheric river science and to explore new directions, improved means of disseminating AR forecast information, and upgrades to existing monitoring techniques.

The conference is designed to maximize interaction time and encourage collaboration, and included breakout sessions and panel discussions along with traditional oral and poster sessions. The conference also strongly encouraged student participation.

Conducted every two years, IARCs have been held in La Jolla, California, (2016, 2018 and 2024), fully virtually (2020), and in Santiago, Chile (2022). For a detailed description of the history of IARC, meeting summary articles, and more, please see the website: https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/iarc/.

The entire IARC Steering Committee would like to thank everyone who has contributed and participated in the conference, and for helping make it such a resounding success! We hope to see, in person, all the familiar faces, as well as many new ones, for the next IARC.

Please see the IARC website for program information and abstracts, and be on the lookout for details on the next International Atmospheric Rivers Conference, which will be held in 2026 in Portugal.