Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors.
Source: AGU Advances
Rainfall-rich periods, also called pluvials or megapluvials when they last for several years, are just as common as droughts and megadroughts. Cook et al. [2025] use a record of soil moisture from southwestern North America, extending over more than one thousand years to investigate the frequency and causes of these fascinating climate anomalies. In particular, the authors focus on megapluvials that occurred in the 20th century and demonstrate, through reconstruction of the paleoclimate, that rainfall-rich periods are as ubiquitous as droughts and megadroughts over the last millennium, with these features persisting in modern times.
Impressively, the study proves that a megapluvial that occurred during 1978-1999 marked the wettest interval of the last 1,200 years, even more extreme than the early 21st century megadrought. The authors also find strong evidence that the above extreme megapluvial was forced by anomalous warm temperature of the tropical Pacific sea surface during the 20th century. These findings provide interesting and innovative knowledge of climate dynamics to better understand current extreme events and climate change.
Citation: Cook, B. I., Williams, A. P., Smerdon, J. E., Marvel, K., & Seager, R. (2025). Megapluvials in Southwestern North America. AGU Advances*, 6, e2024AV001508.*https://doi.org/10.1029/2024AV001508
—Alberto Montanari, Editor-in-Chief, AGU Advances
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