Key Facts about Atacama Desert

About Atacama Desert:

• It is located in northern Chile, nestled between the Andes Mountains on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It is the driest desert in the world. 
• It forms a continuous strip for nearly 1,000 km along the narrow coast of the northern third of Chile. Argentina, Peru and Bolivia border the Atacama Desert. 
• It shows a unique combination of environmental extremes (extreme dryness, the highest UV radiation levels on Earth and highly saline and oxidizing soils). It also hosts 12 volcanoes, mainly located in the western outliers of the Andes.
• Previously part of the Pacific Ocean seabed, the Atacama Desert landscape consists of caked salt deposits called playas, which stretch for miles and can be up to 1.6 feet thick in some places. 
• Climate:
  • Average rainfall in this region is about 1 mm per year. Some locations within the desert have never had any rainfall whatsoever.
  • This is due to its location between the Andes, which blocks the humid air from the Amazons, and the Coastal Mountain range. 
  • To the west, the upwelling of cold water from deep in the Pacific Ocean promotes atmospheric conditions that hamper the evaporation of seawater and prevent the formation of clouds and rain.
  • Temperatures are comparatively mild throughout the year. The average temperature in the desert is about 63 degrees F (18 degrees C).
• It has the largest natural supply of Sodium Nitrate, which can be used for producing fertilizers and explosives, amongst other things. 
• Soil samples from this region are very similar to samples from Mars; for this reason, NASA uses this desert for testing instruments for missions to the red planet.
• Chinchorro Mummies: The oldest artificially mummified human remains have been found in the Atacama Desert. 
• It is one of the few locations on the globe with 300+ days of clear skies in a year, along with no light pollution.