World’s driest desert blooms in winter for the first time in a decade

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The Atacama Desert in northern Chile, considered the driest desert in the world, has begun to bloom in the middle of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter (which lasts from June to August). According to scientific reports, this is the first time this has happened since 2015 Portal Live Science with reference to Chilean scientists.

According to the researchers, the rare blooms of the Atacama plants were caused by rains in mid-April as well as humid morning fogs.

The first species to grace the barren desert landscape in 2024 were the purple flowers of Cistanthe grandiflora and the white inflorescences of the Chilean bellflower Nolana baccata.
The growing season covered an area of ​​300 to 400 square kilometers.

Ecologists noted that the full bloom of the Atacama usually occurs from September to October and covers an area of ​​​​up to 15 thousand square kilometers.

The Atacama Desert’s rare winter blooms are not without their problems. The problem is that pollinating insects don’t arrive as quickly as plants respond to rain, says Maria Fernanda Perez, a professor of ecology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

Grasses in the Atacama Desert have self-pollinating mechanisms, but they are slow enough to open that the number of plant seeds will decline in the next growing season.

Previously USA collided We experienced the worst drought in 1200 years.

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