2017 seems to have been a desert year as statistics show that desert travel has increased by 125% compared to the past, with destinations such as Morocco, Dubai and the Joshua Tree National Park alongside the Atacama Desert in Chile. (Atacama Desert) have been one of the most popular destinations.
The Atacama Desert is located between Chile, Peru and Bolivia. The area of this desert is about 2/3 of the territory of Italy. Atacama is mostly covered with sand and salt marshes and stretches from the Andes to the Pacific Ocean. The heights of the Andes prevent rain clouds from reaching the area and, like a wall, separate the desert from the Amazon rainforest. This means that the average rainfall in some parts of the desert, especially in the Antofagasta region of Chile, is only 3 mm per year. Some places do not even see rainy years. These weather conditions have made the Atacama Desert the driest desert in the world. This place is one of the popular tourist destinations for astronomers and night sky lovers. Surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains, it is 105,000 square kilometers and is a collection of arid lands, salt flats, sandy deserts, rocky peaks and active volcanoes.
The Atacama Desert in Chile is the driest spot on earth. Deserts are usually defined as environments with an annual rainfall of less than 250 mm. The Atacama Desert receives less than one millimeter of rainfall annually. For this reason, this area has no trees or shade, no one lives in it and it is not polluted.
This place is one of the most popular tourist destinations for nature photographers. The valleys, which are beautifully shaped by the wind, and the salt lakes that create a beautiful background for photography, enliven the enthusiasm of photographers to travel to this desert. Scenes that are similar to Mars and are even used to test astronauts, and are also the location of many movies and documentaries about Mars.
This area is one of the best places to watch the stars and enjoy the night sky due to its clear and wide sky and three large international observatories. For these reasons, there is no one interested in astronomy and photography who has not traveled to this region or is not counting down the moments for this trip.
In 2015, due to the El Niño phenomenon, a carpet of colorful flowers covered the Huasco area of the Atacama Desert, unprecedented in decades. El Niño is one of the most famous climatic cycles in the world, causing large anomalies in the climate all over the planet every 2 to 7 years. This phenomenon, that is the growth of flowers in the desert occurs when, due to rain, the dormant seeds under the soil grow and flower. The El Niño phenomenon caused the most unprecedented rainfall in the Atacama Desert in two decades. Of course, spring flowers grow in Atacama every 5 to 7 years, but this time in a larger volume and in an unprecedented way, the driest place in the world hosted spring flowers.
Located at an altitude, it is unpolluted, arid, and has some of the best observatories in the world. It is a popular place for professional and amateur astronomers and night owl enthusiasts. At $ 1.3 billion, the Alma Telescope is a joint project of North America, Europe and Asia and the largest terrestrial astronomical project in the world. More than 500 people from around the world were involved in the construction of the Alma Telescope. Of course, astronomical tourism is almost new, but today there are numerous night tours to observe the stars around the world. Chile also offers many tours to travel to this desert and observe the sky.
One of the interesting facts about this desert is its climate. When you hear the name of this desert, you may think that it is very hot. But the average temperature in Atacama is between 0 and 25 degrees Celsius.
In the past, when it rained in these areas, transient reservoirs formed on the slopes of the Andes and over time turned into a lake. Of course, over time, many of them have dried up. In the coastal parts of the desert, flamingos, penguins, Nowruz chickens and other seabirds also live. Plants do not grow in this area because the desert is covered with sea fog. However, some species of cactus, moss and lichen are found.
San Pedro de Atacama is a small village located in an oasis in the heart of the desert. Very few people live in this village. Historical documents show that in pre-Hispanic times, local tribes ruled the region.
This desert is 15 million years old. There was no rain in the area between 1570 and 1971. The riverbeds of this desert have been completely dry for 12,000 years.
In the late 1800s, during the War of the Pacific, Bolivia and Chile claimed ownership of the Atacama Desert. At the end of the war, Chile won and took control of the entire region.
The world’s oldest mummified bodies have been discovered in the desert, dating back thousands of years to Egyptian mummies. The dryness of this area and the lack of moisture have kept these mummies healthy. The oldest mummies discovered in Egypt date back to 3000 BC, while the mummies found in this desert date back to 7020 BC.
The Atacama Desert is 50 times drier than Death Valley, California. This desert is one of the largest natural sources of sodium nitrate in the world. In the 1940s, mining was very common, and now the desert is full of abandoned miners’ towns. The soil of this desert is similar to the soil samples obtained from Mars. For this reason, NASA is using the desert to test astronauts.
