THE ATACAMA DESERT, Chile\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Spring has finally arrived in the Southern Hemisphere and, in Chile, even the desert is blossoming. <\/p>\n
Known as the driest nonpolar desert on Earth, a massive portion of the Atacama Desert has been covered in flowers after the El Ni\u00f1o weather pattern brought heavy rains to the region earlier this year. The unusually large amount of water allowed millions of seeds and bulbs to sprout and bloom, many of them after remaining dormant for decades. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a unique phenomenon; there are more than 200 plant species,\u201d Jorge Carabantes, head of the Protected Areas Department at the National Forest Corp. (CONAF), told the Associated Press. \u201cThis is a flowering event that is obviously extraordinary and unusual, very different from other blooms that occur elsewhere on the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Atacama lies between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains, stretching some 1,000 miles all the way down the northern coast of Chile.<\/p>\n
Although flowering is common during the transition from winter to spring, this year the rocky, brownish dunes that make up the desert\u2019s traditional landscape have turned into a vibrant, colorful carpet of wildflowers during a historic Desierto Florido, or \u201cflowering desert.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI always thought it was just going to be brown. That\u2019s my image of a desert, just brown,\u201d said Felix Banda, 51, who was born in Chile but has lived his whole life in Australia. \u201cI knew that it had rained a lot, so I was expecting to see some beautiful greenery, but this is an incredible landscape,\u201d he added about his first visit to the Atacama.<\/p>\n
Record rainfall turns into a visual spectacle<\/p>\n
Between July and August, Chile recorded record rainfall in several regions, with some levels never seen since measurements began in the 1950s. The heavy precipitation was driven by a super El Ni\u00f1o, a climate phenomenon that causes sharp rises in global temperatures and is becoming increasingly strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince rainfall records began, these are the most significant figures in terms of volume: 6 to 7 inches in some locations,\u201d said biologist C\u00e9sar Pizarro, head of the Biodiversity Conservation Section at CONAF Atacama. <\/p>\n
The storms have caused flooding, havoc and devastation in several parts of Chile. Yet in the north, they also have enabled the historic desert bloom, covering some 6,560 square miles this year. This area is similar in size to the Santiago Metropolitan Region, the country\u2019s largest and most populous area.<\/p>\n
According to CONAF projections, it\u2019s expected to be the most intense and extensive Desierto Florido since 1997.<\/p>\n
The heavy rainfall activated the desert\u2019s biological material, known as germplasm \u2014 seeds, bulbs and tubers but also the eggs of various invertebrates and reptiles. <\/p>\n
The result is a true visual spectacle featuring more than 200 species of plants and flowers in a variety of colors, shapes and forms. Red and yellow \u00f1a\u00f1ucas, purple rock purslane, white suspiros, orange terciopelos and the native garra de le\u00f3n, one of the desert\u2019s most celebrated species, have transformed the hills, plains and ravines of the Atacama.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are hills and mountain ranges where no greenery or flowers had been seen for more than 30 or 40 years,\u201d Pizarro added. \u201cThis desert germplasm can remain [dormant] for many years, even decades. The hills this year are the best example of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tourism picks up<\/p>\n
Whether arriving from within Chile or overseas, tourists are venturing into the remote, inhospitable areas of the Atacama to admire the millions of flowers adorning vast areas of the desert, stretching from the coast to the horizon.<\/p>\n
According to data provided to the AP by the National Tourism Secretariat, the Atacama region is expected to see nearly 300,000 overnight trips by the time the natural phenomenon ends in November, positioning Desierto Florido as one of the region\u2019s main tourist attractions this season.<\/p>\n
Chef Franco Moya, 37, and his girlfriend traveled nearly 620 miles from Santa Cruz, a town in central Chile\u2019s Colchagua Valley, to several parts of the desert to celebrate his birthday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was striking to see how the flowers grow in such a dry place,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s my first time here … and it was a truly surprising moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Batschke writes for the Associated Press. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE ATACAMA DESERT, Chile\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Spring has finally arrived in the Southern Hemisphere and, in Chile, even the desert is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[168583,218118,19700,29421,261653,125,1397,143944,8605,261652,33724,11565,9358,90,53188,261654,56,54,55,1942],"class_list":["post-795482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-atacama-desert","tag-bulb","tag-chile","tag-desert","tag-dry-desert","tag-earth","tag-environment","tag-flower","tag-hill","tag-historic-desierto-florido","tag-mile","tag-million","tag-region","tag-science","tag-seed","tag-several-part","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}