The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is the driest place on Earth, sustained by aqueducts and ingenuity. Astronomers benefit from crystal clear skies, while farmers use drip irrigation to grow crops. The area’s frequent fog nurtures plant communities called lomas, but in the harshest areas, nothing grows. Chile’s main export used to be nitrate from mines in the Atacama Desert, but now it is copper.
Known as the driest place on Earth, the Atacama Desert stretches about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) in northern Chile. The moisture comes from fog, such as the dense and abundant fog known as camanchaca, or perhaps a downpour every few decades, but the rain gauge in Calama, Chile, has never measured a drop of precipitation. Yet, more than a million people live in the Atacama, sustained by aqueducts and ingenuity. The lack of rain means that astronomers at observatories on the Atacama Coast Range can view the skies through crystal clear skies. Determined northern farmers grow olives, tomatoes and cucumbers with drip irrigation. In the altiplano, other thick people herd llamas and alpacas and grow crops with water from streams melted from the snow.
Survival in the driest place on Earth:
The area’s frequent fog nurtures plant communities called lomas. These islands of greenery range from cacti to ferns.
The Atacama is a cold, high desert, with elevations exceeding 8,000 feet (2,438 m). In the harshest areas, nothing grows and nothing can survive.
In the 19th century, Chile’s main export was nitrate from mines in the Atacama Desert. Today, the Atacama produces copper, Chile’s current main export.
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