The Story
“See stunning photos of the Atacama Desert — the driest on Earth — blooming in winter for 1st time in a decade”
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/plants/see-stunning-photos-of-the-atacama-desert-the-driest-on-earth-blooming-in-winter-for-1st-time-in-a-decade
by María de los Ángeles Orfila
Live Science, July 19, 2024
The Pitch
The phenomenon known as the Flowering Desert, typically occurring in spring in the Atacama Desert—the driest place on Earth in northern Chile—has been brought forward by several months this year, an event not seen in a decade. This phenomenon is closely related to El Niño, which increases precipitation and helps more than 200 species of mostly endemic flowers bloom, covering the desert in vibrant white and violet hues.
Why is this unusual flowering happening in the middle of the southern hemisphere’s winter? I propose to explore this question with researchers from the National Forestry Corporation (Conaf), the organization responsible for managing the Desierto Florido National Park. Specifically, I plan to interview César Pizarro, head of the Biodiversity Conservation section and head of Scientific Research at Conaf Atacama, as well as María Fernanda Pérez and Ana María Mujica, researchers from the Faculty of Biological Sciences and Agrarian Sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University, who have studied this phenomenon extensively.
We can anticipate that the current plant activation is due to rains that began in autumn. Typically, these rains occur between July and August, with activation between September and October. Scientists predict that this phenomenon will continue until the end of the month, as forecasts predict at least 15 millimeters of rain in the region. This amount of rain is the approximate minimum that the dormant endemic seeds of the Atacama Desert need to flourish.
According to a 2022 analysis by the Pontifical Catholic University, about 15 flowering events have occurred in the past 40 years. In 2015, a particularly unusual event occurred with two separate blooms: the first between April and May, very similar to the current one, and the second between September and October. Ana María Mujica notes, “It is an ephemeral flowering, of very short duration, around which numerous species emerge: birds, insects, reptiles, rodents. Everything is related.”
This year, the Atacama Desert may amaze us longer than usual, transforming into a true garden. This story not only highlights a rare and beautiful natural event but also underscores the intricate connections within ecosystems and the impacts of climate phenomena like El Niño.