When asked to name the most famous desert, most people will surely remember the Sahara. Older people will fetch from the memory of the Karakum. But we have no doubts: the coolest desert on Earth is the Atacama. Well, judge for yourself.
Atacama is the oldest desert on Earth. It began to form 150 million years ago. A super-dry climate was established there about 15 million years ago. On the one hand, the Atacama is reliably protected from rain by the Andes mountain ranges. On the other, the Peruvian Current, which cools the lower atmosphere, preventing precipitation.
Piedras Rojas - Red Stones of the Atacama Desert.
It's not hot at all in Atacama! This is an amazing desert - the average January temperature on the desert coast is 19-20 ° C, and in July it is only 13-14 ° C. Dry and cool, just like in a museum.
There is almost no life here. But deep in the desert are microorganisms that have adapted well to life in harsh conditions. Many microbiologists come here, who are attracted "not by life itself, but by its scarcity": scientists believe that microorganisms living in the local climate could well inhabit other planets. So you can think of the Atacama as a "Martian pavilion".
One of the favorite places for tourists - sculpture by Mario Irarrasabal. The height of the sculpture - 11 meters.
The surface of the desert is covered with a layer of thick salt deposits, which is called "floating". Translated from Spanish, this means "beach" - such a joke, apparently. And there are also many rare earth metals and the so-called nitrate belt - a strip of abundant saltpeter deposits.
Valley of the Moon in Atacama.
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Anyone interested in astronomy knows Atacama as the site of the Great Atacama Antenna Array, aka ALMA. This is a complex of 66 radio telescopes, which are combined into a huge radio interferometer. The data coming to it is processed by a supercomputer, which performs 17 quadrillion operations per second. Here, in Atacama, there is a Very Large Telescope complex - 8 radio telescopes, which are the largest complex telescope in the world in terms of mirror area and the best in resolution.
ALMA. Photo: W. Garnier (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO).
So if you wanted to visit the Sahara since childhood, give up this venture. Go to Atacama, it's more interesting here!