The most severe deserts: Chile, Atacama

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

In search of adventure and new experiences, tourists climb even to the most remote corners of our planet, where the pristine nature and originality of the local population have been preserved. One such place is Chile. The Republic of South America is located on the map as a thin strip of land between the majestic Andes and the Pacific Ocean.

Unique and picturesque landscapes attract to these places like a magnet. It has everything, even deserts. Chile is best known for Atacama, the driest place on the planet.

Location and climate

The famous South American desert spreads over an area of 105 thousand square meters. km along the western coast of the mainland. Until 1983, its territory belonged to Bolivia. The aridity of the climate in these places is associated with many features of the relief and location. Thus, the cold surface Peruvian Current of the Pacific Ocean, cooling the lower layers of atmospheric air, creates a temperature inversion, which is an obstacle to precipitation. This desert in Chile is the driest in the world (inless than 10 mm of precipitation falls annually). However, the temperatures in it, contrary to all ideas about such places, are not too high. So, in January - an average of about 19-20 ° C, and in July - 13-14 ° C. In winter, fog is often observed in some areas.

The driest desert

Scientists from all over the world visit Chile every year. It is they who compare the landscapes of the desert with those of Mars. Atakama can be absolutely objectively equipped with the epithet "most". An interesting place, in some areas of which precipitation occurs once every few years, and some weather stations located in it never recorded rain data at all. According to some reports, in the period from 1570 to 1971, significant precipitation was not observed in it at all. Atacama in its uniqueness is ahead of other deserts. Chile, thanks to her, receives a steady stream of tourists every year.

The lowest humidity is recorded in the desert, or rather its complete absence - 0%. High mountains have absolutely no glaciers, although permafrost is present. According to research by scientists from the UK, the Atacama riverbeds have been absolutely dry for more than 120 thousand years.

Mineral resources

The virtually lifeless desert is rich in minerals, especially copper and a natural source of sodium nitrate (Chile s altpeter). S alt mining was most actively carried out until the 40s of the last century and is to this day a stumbling block between Chile and Bolivia. In addition, there are deposits of iodine, borax and common s alt.

Desert Flora

It's amazing but true: Chile's largest desert and the world's driest is still sparsely vegetated. Vegetation in these places is strictly limited by time frames and is characterized by instability, the rainy period is most favorable for plants, which, as a rule, coincides with such a phenomenon as El Niño - temperature fluctuations in the surface water layer of the Pacific Ocean in its equatorial part. In Atacama, the climatic spring falls on the calendar autumn (September-November), at this time there is still scant rainfall, and a short-term, but very rapid and bright flowering of bulbous plants and grasses begins, which are able to store moisture for a long time. An incredibly beautiful phenomenon has received the poetic name "blooming desert". The flora is represented by more than 200 plant species, many of which are endemic and found nowhere else in the world.

Hand of the Desert

Chile is an extremely interesting state from a tourist point of view. Going on a trip to this distant country, you can safely count on a lot of pleasant impressions not only from nature, but also from culture. So, in Atacama, literally 400 meters from the highway, there is an interesting cement sculpture on a steel frame. It represents the left palm of a person rising three quarters from the surface of the earth. As conceived by the author Mario Irarrasabal, it serves as an expression of human injustice, loneliness, torment and grief. The height of the composition is 11 meters. This is not only a popular tourist destination, but also an object that has appeared in many clips and advertisements.roller skates.

Interesting facts

Locals have adapted to the harsh desert climate and collect water in these arid regions with special mist eliminators. They are high cylinders, on the walls of which moisture condenses, flowing into the barrel. Such a device can collect up to 18 liters of water per day

In November 2015, Chile's and the world's driest desert turned into a magnificent blooming oasis. According to scientists, the phenomenon of this magnitude occurred for the first time in the last 50 years. This happened thanks to El Nino, famous for its destructive power, but this time it gave such beauty. The Chilean authorities note that the flow of tourists in this regard has increased by 40%

• The deserts of Chile are mysterious and somewhat mystical places. Proof of this is an amazing find in the Atacama. In 2003, a human mummy was found in the small abandoned town of La Noria. She was called the "Atacama humanoid".



The discovered mummy (pictured above) has some features that are the subject of heated debate between scientists and ufologists. It is small (15 cm long), has not 12 pairs of ribs (a number characteristic of a person), but only 9 and a very elongated skull. For about a year, the mummy was studied at Stanford University in the USA. According to DNA data, the mummy is a rare mutation with anomalies in the development of the skeleton. There are several versions of its origin,however, all scientists agree on one thing - this is not an alien and not a hoax.