Flowers bloomed in one of the driest places on Earth (5 photos + 1 video)

Category: Nature, PEGI 0+
16 July 2024

Beauty to your feed.





The Atacama Desert, located in northern Chile, is considered one of the driest places on the planet. Its area is 105,000 km². In some parts of the desert, rain falls once every few decades. On average, the region receives only 1 mm of precipitation per year.



Some weather stations in the Atacama have never recorded rain in their entire history. There is evidence that there was no significant rainfall in this desert between 1570 and 1971. Humidity in Atacama is recorded at the lowest level - 0%. But since 2011 the situation began to change. Rains began to fall in the desert once every 5–7 years, and sometimes quite heavily. Over the past 40 years, rain has fallen 15 times.

Atacama is called the “blooming desert” because on its territory there are plants that can survive drought and harsh weather.



This is what the Atacama looks like without rain

This year it also rained and the desert blossomed. An incredibly beautiful sight! White and purple flowers manage to please with their beauty before the soil dries out again.





This usually happens in the spring. But the current bloom is unusually early - in the middle of Southern Hemisphere winter - thanks to rainfall caused by El Niño, a natural climate phenomenon that influences global weather.



Cesar Pizarro, head of biodiversity conservation at CONAF, an organization run by the Chilean government, said this year's bloom was not yet widespread enough to be officially considered a "blooming desert." However, he expects rainfall to increase, which could cause the flowers to spread over a larger area.



The last time the desert bloomed was in the spring of 2022, but winter flowering was recorded in 2015.

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