Rivers of the Atlantic
Notes
Most maps show rivers as squiggly flows over continents. This one flips the narrative, showing rivers as simplified flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
Here’s the promised follow-up to Rivers of the Pacific.
The most striking features are the Mediterranean, into which many of the great rivers of Europe and one of the great rivers of Africa flow, and, of course, the Amazon, whose voluminous tributaries are, if anything, underrepresented on this visualization.
There’s a strange symmetry between the Pacific and Atlantic maps: in both cases, the most extensive drainage systems are to the west.
In the case of the Pacific map, the Mekong, Pearl, Yangtze and Yellow rivers in China dominate, while the Rockies’ and the Andes’ proximity to the west coast of the Americas minimizes the flow from the east.
In the case of the Atlantic map, the Amazon, Orinoco and Mississippi rivers drain huge areas of the Americas, though the Mediterranean and the Niger and Congo rivers to the east make the assymmetry less pronounced.
Well, that’s most of the planet covered, just the Indian and Arctic oceans to follow!
Sources
Wikipedia – pages for individual rivers and drainage basins
Wikipedia – List of rivers by discharge
Earth Sky – First complete map of ice flow from heart of Antarctica
Date
First published 13 August 2021
