Núcleo Hiperárido del Desierto de Atacama (Chile)

About Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert is a cool, hyper-arid region along northern Chile's Pacific fringe, widely recognized as one of the driest non-polar places on Earth Despite its low latitude, summer temperatures average only ~18 °C (65 °F) due to the cold Peru (Humboldt) Current, and some meteorological stations have never recorded measurable rainfall Its extreme dryness, high elevation (Atacama Plateau ~4,000 m; Tamarugal Plain >900 m), and dark skies make it the world's premier ground-based astronomy hub Dual-Mechanism Hyper-Aridity: Aridity results from the interaction of dry subsidence from the South Pacific high-pressure cell and thermal inversion caused by cold upwelling of the Humboldt Current, which generates coastal fog (camanchaca) and stratus clouds rather than rain Global Astronomical Infrastructure: High altitude, minimal atmospheric water vapor, and low light pollution led the European Southern Observatory (ESO) to build La Silla, Paranal (Very Large Telescope), and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the region Precipitation Extremes: Certain interior stations have never recorded a drop of rain, while other zones experience heavy rainfall only 2–4 times per century