<p><span lang="en-US">Polar amplification has been pronounced in the Arctic with near-surface air temperatures increasing at more than twice the global warming rate d</span>uring the last several decades<span lang="en-US">. At the same time, over Antarctica temperature trends have exhibited a large regional variability. In particular, the </span>Antarctic Peninsula (AP) <span lang="en-US">stands out as having a </span>warming<span lang="en-US"> rate much higher than</span> the rest of the Antarctic ice sheet and other land areas in the Southern Hemisphere (SH)<span lang="en-US">.</span> <span lang="en-US">F</span>uture projections indicate that <span lang="en-US">warming and ice loss will intensify in both polar regions with important impacts</span> globally. In addition to the warming amplification, there has been also an enhancement of the polar water cycle with increase<span lang="en-US">s</span> <span lang="en-US">in </span>poleward moisture transport and precipitation in both polar regions. An important process linking warming and precipitation enhancement is a shift towards more frequent rainfall compared to snowfall<span lang="en-US">. F</span>uture projections show that the rain fraction will significantly increase in coastal Antarctica, especially in the AP. Atmospheric rivers (ARs), long corridors of intense moisture transport from subtropical and mid-latitude regions poleward, are known for <span lang="en-US">their </span>prominent role in <span lang="en-US">both </span>heat and moisture transport with impacts ranging from intense precipitation to temperature records and major melt events in Antarctica.<span lang="en-US"> Limited observations have hampered process understanding and correct representation of these extreme events in models.</span> <span lang="en-US">This presentation will give an overview of the </span>enhanced observations targeting ARs in the A<span lang="en-US">P</span> (<span lang="en-US">including </span>surface meteorology, radiosonde, cloud and precipitation remote sensing, <span lang="en-US">and </span>radiative fluxes) as part of the <span lang="en-US">Year of Polar Prediction (</span>YOPP<span lang="en-US">)</span>-SH international collaborative effort<span lang="en-US">. </span>In-depth analysis of transport of heat and moisture, <span lang="en-US">atmospheric vertical structure, </span>cloud properties<span lang="en-US"> and precipitation phase transition from snowfall to rainfall </span>during selected <span lang="en-US">AR </span>case<span lang="en-US">s</span> will be<span lang="en-US"> presented and compared with ERA5 reanalysis and high-resolution Polar-WRF model simulations</span>.<span lang="en-US"> We will highlight three different local regimes around the AP: large-scale precipitation over the Southern Ocean north of the AP, orographic enhancement of precipitation in the western AP and the role of foehn, cloud/precipitation clearing and temperature increase in the northeastern AP. </span></p>