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What is the Atacama desert climate?
Old, hot and dry In other deserts around the world, like the Sahara, the mercury can soar above 130 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius). But temperatures in the Atacama are comparatively mild throughout the year. The average temperature in the desert is about 63 degrees F (18 degrees C).
Why Atacama is the driest desert?
Why is the Atacama Desert so dry? The Atacama Desert is located in a zone called the “shadow of rain”. Basically, there is an absence of rains and high evaporation. These natural, complex, and dynamic factors make the Atacama Desert an incredibly dry place.
What is the humidity in the Atacama Desert?
The daily atmospheric relative humidity of the Atacama Desert ranges from 0% at noon to 100% at midnight in the hyperarid core area, with a mean value of~30% [31, 37, 38]. Since warmer air has a higher capacity for moisture, the moisture content at 4°C is generally similar to that of the air above Atacama soils. …
Where is the Atacama Desert?
northern Chile
Atacama Desert, Spanish Desierto de Atacama, cool, arid region in northern Chile, 600 to 700 miles (1,000 to 1,100 km) long from north to south. Its limits are not exactly determined, but it lies mainly between the south bend of the Loa River and the mountains separating the Salado-Copiapó drainage basins.
Why does the Atacama Desert have arid climate?
Most of the desert is composed of stony terrain, salt lakes (salares), sand, and felsic lava that flows towards the Andes. The desert owes its extreme aridity to a constant temperature inversion due to the cool north-flowing Humboldt ocean current and to the presence of the strong Pacific anticyclone.
What is the location of the Atacama Desert What is special about the desert?
Atacama Desert, Spanish Desierto de Atacama, cool, arid region in northern Chile, 600 to 700 miles (1,000 to 1,100 km) long from north to south. Its limits are not exactly determined, but it lies mainly between the south bend of the Loa River and the mountains separating the Salado-Copiapó drainage basins.
What influences the climate of the Atacama Desert?
The Atacama Desert can attribute its astoundingly low precipitation to a combination of several “drying” factors: the subtropical high, a double rain shadow, and the cold ocean current running up the west coast of South America.
What is the overall climate in the Atacama Desert?
The overall climate of the Atacama desert is between 0 and 25 degrees Celsius. As well as being a very cold place, the Atacama desert is also one of the driest, with some areas having not received rainfall in over 300 years.
What is the highest temperature in the Atacama Desert?
Most of this desert region is higher than 8,000 feet above sea level. This certainly affects the temperature. The Atacama Desert is classified as a cold desert. Average temperatures range from 32 degrees to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
What is the weather like in the Atacama Desert?
The climate in Atacama is called a desert climate. There is virtually no rainfall during the year in Atacama. The Köppen-Geiger climate classification is BWk. The average temperature in Atacama is 17.3 °C. The rainfall here averages 45 mm.
Is Atacama a hot or cold desert?
The Atacama Desert is actually a really cold place with temperatures ranging from 0 to 30 degrees. Three countries fought the War of the Pacific in the 1880s for control of the desert. They both wanted its Sodium nitrate mines. Chile won. The oldest known artificially prepared mummies come from this desert.