Atacama: The Driest Desert on Earth
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Music? Interesting, very interesting. 🤗💋
Dry Valleys, Antarctica.
Speaking of, could we get a Geographics on Antarctica?
@@--enyo-- there’s already one on the channel
@@--enyo-- I mentioned it because that's the driest desert on earth.
Atacama: Rain Shadow Legends...
Lol. You're a legend. Allegedly
LMAO
Boom!!
Smash that thumbs up button!
@SLCPunked an absolutely disgusting amount of nothing...
Bolivia, Chile and Peru all fought a war over this land. The modern importance of potassium nitrate, and guano, cannot be over-stated. Fertilizer. Gunpowder. Then along comes the Haber-Bosch process. Would make a great side project video.
Potaxio
Me: No way in hell im watching a 20 min video about a desert.
Also me 20 min later: well here we are
Well I got through 3 minutes. I was really confused by the preview thumbnail which showed a black girl at her laptop - turns out that's the ad.
I lived in Pedro de Valdivia mining camp when I was a kid. The heat was intense, but the air was so dry that the sweat evaporated almost instantly. Winter nights were below freezing, but it was 0 humidity to freeze. Summer nights were pleasant. The place were extremely calm, 0% criminality, so you could safely play in the street or in the desert. I had many friends, a bicycle, a slingshot, an Atari 800XL, a VHS a cat and a turtle. There were even a video club and not one, but two public swimming pools. Everything that a child in the 80's could want.
i was there with my wife who is Chilean, the dryest place on the planet and she fell into the only source of water and had to be rescued, it was only a tiny spring. Clumsiest woman ive ever known.
Adorable.
❤
You sound so pissed off
Love it😂
“ Clumsiest woman ive ever known “ Thats true husband love right there😂
11:02
"5000 kilometres or 3 miles"
You sure about that?
lol
I came looking for this comment when i noticed
Paused the video for this.
I think he meant 5000 metres.
Too much cocaine, we have to understand. Also giving temps at the begining of the sentence in celsius and farenheits, and finishing just in farenheits.
Lol ... Guess the script said 5k
I was anticipating you'd mention the periodic phenomenon in Atacama Desert known locally as desierto florido (flowering desert).
The desert on the beach from Peru down, while getting more rain, is dead. The atamaca was alive with plants. It doesnt rain, but there are many springs, a river, and I guess morning dew that allows the plants to grow. With the plants came some animals. Ducks were the ones I was surprised to see the most.
Simon: "Yeah the Atacama desert might be the driest on earth but it's got nothing on BrightCellers where you can get the driest wine delivered directly to your door..."
No joke that was a missed sponsorship opportunity.
"Patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter"
Mojave* 🤙
@Moaz Shah I'll be streaming the 2nd Battle of Hoover Dam tonight (Sided with the NCR), so these comments are perfect timing for me!
@@MrZerzec thanks
Must have completed this game 8-10 times. Talk about replay value.
Those freakin' Cazadors though..
i feel like Simon could make a video about the two biggest cactuses in New Mexico and i would still be excited as i ever was about a new video. he is awesome. 🥰
"Welcome to Megaprojects..."
@@Harshhaze we'll get right on this.
@@megaprojects9649 Welcome to Cactus Projects" But unlike them you wont get into a prickly situation with todays sponsor Squarespace. If you want to make a Cactus appreciation website don't make your own, use one of their beautiful templates. Want to blog about your Cactus's? Yes! Want to do a podcast about it? Yes! Want to do a TH-cam channel? Well you would do that on TH-cam but you want to have support website to show it off and that's where Squarespace comes in. And now, lets get back to those Cactuses.
@@BaconBurger1928 My bad, or for the non Americans it would be Cacti.
New Mexico has a lot in common with this video. several of the locations look like places I spend time and sand boarding at white sands is a great way of spending a day.
When British people say "geysers," I get a mental image of a bunch of crotchety old men shaking their canes in the air and shouting at people to get off their lawns.
The funny thing is, that even the sub-title says 'geezers'.
Oddly I'm a Brit and I pounce the y like an I. So G-I-sers. Not G-ee-sers. I'm not sure if it's a British thing?
Lol yes
@@Stettafire same
The salt flats you mention (the Salar de Uyuni) is NOT located in northern Chile as you claim. It is actually located in southwestern Bolivia. The Atacama desert goes beyond the borders of Chile and Peru and actually includes parts of Bolivia as well.
Thank you, I came to comment the same!
I would have to say that the desertic zones in the borders of Chile and Bolivia are in reality another biome, it's called Altiplano, and it's principal characteristics are its high height, moderate to chill temperatures, somewhat impressionant ecosystems with life, etc. It's like a nerfed version of the Atacama desert
You're thinking of altiplano it's different...
@Luke Jonah Samuel Matthew that's not true, liar
Geezer Vantage Points?
You mean to tell me the Atacama Desert has large, wild herds of elderly people?
Yes. Yes it does. 😉
Antarctica: Finally a worthy opponent.
Ever hear of those mummified seals in the arctic miles away from any water?
Metal!
Dry valleys region beats atacama
In terms of continents, as opposed to deserts, Australia is the driest one, barring Antarctica, but our desert areas average more rainfall than some others, even if it isn't much. It allows fertile growth of many deadly animals though!
Can someone guide me how to visit Antarctica?
Can I apply for a tour from Pakistan 🇵🇰.
@@haroonmalik5109 idk
My wife and I spent a couple of days in the Atacama Desert a few years ago. It really is an amazing and beautiful area. We made it up to 4,300 metres in the Andes -- and, although the sun shone brightly in the thin air, it was very cold! We stayed in San Pedro de Atacama. There are lots of fascinating things to do. We went sand-boarding, but without the boards, as we slid down a very very large sand dune. Well worth a visit.
i thought you'd also talk about the desert bloom when speaking about tourist attractions, it is one of the most iconic events in the area
Wow the effect of mountains, wind and water currents directions in creating deserts are immense. Time to recreate my fictional map.
"elevation higher than five thousand kilometres"
I guess the astronomers at ALMA need astronaut training too.
The only thing the Chilean Coastal Range protects the Atacama from is fog that forms on the ocean side of the range due to a cool ocean current coming straight up from Antarctica. The Atacama is in the Trade Wind Latitudes where winds and systems travel from east to west. Considering that the Argentinian side is already fairly dry (dry pampas) - the winds go over the pampas - get lifted over the high Andes and what little bit of moisture is in these winds gets squeezed out. The result is a bone dry climate on the west side of the Andes that makes the Sahara and Outback look like a Savannah in comparison. In some parts of the Atacama it has not rained in HUNDREDS of years..
Aren't they setting up fog catchers for water in those areas. There was a documentary that fog is almost every morning there and they have been successful getting water with those fog catchers and quite a lot of water too.
The driest desert on Earth? My ex's soul.
You ok bud?
@@lukeboyuk83 Absolutely. Breaking up with her was a good thing for MY soul.
You are wrong mate. It is my ex's.
How about the Namibian Skeleton Coast for another Geographics video?
When the Portuguese landed there in the late 1400s-early 1500s, they thought it was an embodiment of hell.
Atacama is such an underrated region. Chile even annexed a portion of the desert from Bolivia in the War of the Pacific.
Chilean here: thank you so, so, sooo much for this video. The Atacama Desert is such an interesting place. I wish it got more attention that it currently does.
I’d love to visit someday! I just gotta convince my wife that we should go😁
Scientists: It's not an alien
Narrator (Morgan Freeman): It was an alien
"With a feel that was soft and spongy. Like a Twinkie.... Like a Twinkie."
- Morgan Freeman
Me, a chilean: yep all that is right.
Great video!!!!
The Chinchorros where a great culture, they made the most ancient human made mummies in history, but at contrary of Ancient Egyptians the mumification process was a right for everyone, all have the right to go in the best conditions to the afterlife.
And in the Atacama also exist a wine tourism. I recommend it.
Nowadays the most lucrative thing in Atacama is the cupper extraction activity, tourism, wines, and the solar plants that are being made, because in that region we receive more solar radiation than anywhere else in the world. So our government and privates companies are making giants solar plants, like "Cerro Dominador".
"rain shadow"
all i could think of was all the business blaze RAID SHADOW LEGENDS jokes. Allegendly.
Smash that dislike button!
haha I swore he said "Raid Shadow"
RAIN SHADOW LEGENDS!!!!! lol
I’m so glad I’m not alone in this observation!😉
4:59 "Antarctica is not a true desert". Umm, that is incorrect. A location doesn't have to be hot or sandy to be a true desert. The definition of a desert is purely about precipitation levels. And considering the Antarctic Desert has the lowest average precipitation levels on Earth, it definitely qualifies as a desert.
Thus, the Atacama is mors accurately called the driest Non-Polar desert. The title of driest desert on Earth actually goes to the Antarctic desert.
You totally right about that but if you were to ask your average person what a desert is, they wouldn’t think of the Antarctica or the Arctic as deserts, they would think of hot deserts not disagreeing with you I’m just saying
I know this sounds crazy, but ever since i heard about this place as a kid I've wanted to go there...
I've always wanted to go sand-surfing in Texas. I don't know why I feel so strongly about deserts
I'm from Chile and i assure You guys You don't wanna go to the atacama desert
It's absolutely breathtaking, and the local culture is delightful. Don't expect comfortable living, and the nights are bastard cold.
Awesome place though
It's a really unique and inhospitable place. It's the closest you will be to being on the moon.
I said that mainly for the heat of the day and cold of the night but aside that it's a really pretty place if You go someday you have to meet el desierto florido it's really beautiful
linus tech tips: i’m the best at segues
simon whistler: hold my squarespace domain
You have not met Julian then ;) (look up painting restoration if you are curious)
I love falling asleep to your videos...only problem is I watch 5x more videos than I intended before I can no longer keep my eyes open. Thank you
"If you want your idea to seem 'moderately cool'..." haha, best ad transition yet. Kudos on that one Simon.
Saw a classic rain shadow environment in the Himalayas. It’s quite the phenomenon.
Is Copiapó. The accent on the last O.
What! A telescope with an elevation of 5000 kilometers!?
It's an orbital telescope, duh.
Though I don't know what that "or 3 miles" was about. Perhaps even the scientists aren't sure where they left it lol.
I think he just misspoke. 5000 meters is around 3 miles, that's how high is it's location
Clearly meant meters, not km
Its so they’re already halfway to Mars. All they need then is a magnifying glass.
@@davidscottblacksmith It isn't close to that far 5000 Km is more like the radius of Earth or Venus rounded down to 1 significant figure still clearly wrong but not halfway to Mars level of wrong unless you mean getting up that high in which case yes you would be above the Earth's atmosphere into orbit.
I rememeber those days on 2015 where it rain, the freaking highschool halls inundated, and se gas no clases for one week
Did you ever notice that dry (hot) desert regions tended to be the Western side of continents more than the Eastern side (although, of course, there are a few Eastern side hot, dry deserts but not as many). Hot dry deserts can be enhanced (or diminished) by local topography, such as adjacent mountain ranges causing a rain-shadow effect (Atacama Desert) but my theory about why hot dry deserts tend to be on the Western side of continents is this; the general direction of ocean and air currents called a gyre. Gyres are produced by the Earth's rotation called the Coriolis force. In the Northern Hemisphere, the gyres generally rotate clockwise, and in the Southern Hemisphere, they rotate counterclockwise. However, they can seasonally switch direction. For example, the Indian Ocean Gyre (in the Southern Hemisphere) changes direction in the Southern Hemisphere winter & rotates clockwise. The Indian Ocean Gyre there thus tends to pull hot dry air from equatorial ocean regions landwards (clockwise direction) in the Southern Hemisphere winter, and it's opposite effect (anticlockwise direction) in summer drags cooler dry air northwards, thus pulling away clouds forming over land in summer, although coastal cyclones can bring downpours in this season. Both these effects contribute to the hot dry deserts of Western Australia for example. A similar effect (perhaps even stronger, and enhanced by a large tall continuous mountain chain range called the Andes) appears to occur in the South Pacific Gyre on the West coast of South America.This is just a theory, and does not account for hot dry deserts on the Eastern sides of continents, for example the Arabian Desert, but I think I have some factual justification for it.
4:12 "The colder water is much less conductive for the creation of rain" - really? I don't think the conductivity of water has much to do with the creation of rain. Perhaps you had meant to say "the colder water is much less conducive for the creation of rain".
Conducive.
Mayne convective rather then conductive?
I remember reading about this desert in a historical fiction novel called Ínez of my Soul. About the founders of the city Santiago, Chile. Fascinating and horrific details of the near impossible crossing of this desert to expand Spain's rule in South America.
I'm from California, so the idea of a "Humboldt Current" usually means "Dude, some killer weed is coming in from up north! Hell yeah!"
Humboldt got the best shit in CA no cap
Simón You slaughtered the pronuntiation of Copiapó hahahah but i loved how you said it and btw i love your videos greetings from Chile
The SquareSpace segue was moderately cool.
Simon's expression when explaining the corpse is NOT an alien is my reaction to UFOers.
I knew the astronomy stuff, but not much of the rest. btw 11:03 it should be 5000 meters not Km.
Strange to hear about Copiapo without hearing about the miners.
Howdy from Utah, I’m actually 25 miles away from the Bonneville Salt Flats right now.
Legend has it that at one point, Richard Hammond was the smallest living organism in the Atacama.
At one point, everyone was the size of a grain of sand.
10:56 Simon: "ALMA ... is a $1.4 BILLION series of telescopes with an elevation higher than 5000 kilometres..."
ISS: "Oh man! It's that gigantic telescope again. Time to take a detour!"
(For reference, the ISS *only* flies 400 kilometres)
my family lives in Copiapo and which I have been there many times for months at a time. We get most of our water from springs in the mountains lol
Another excellent video, Simon and crew, congratulations!!! Watching it from Lima city, 12 degrees latitude south, it's winter now and there's always fog from 5pm till 11am. I and 2 other Brits went on a mind-blowing 6 day journey through the deserts of Ica and its beaches in a Toyota Land Cruiser. Keep up the great work
Every time Simon says something about corpses I'm like: DO A COLLAB WITH CAITLIN!!!!!!
FYI, the Uyuni salt flat is in the Bolivian Altiplano, not the Atacama. There is a Salar de Atacama, from which the town San Pedro de Atacama gets its name.
The best place in the world for star gazing, the dryness makes for optimal viewing, it's the only reason I've always wanted to go here.
This was way more interesting than I expected
Hard to believe you left out any mention of the geoglyphs :(
Ummm....that would be on the Nazca Plain of Peru.
@@GaryR55 No. The over 5000 Atacama Geoglyphs (including the Atacama Giant) are found in the Atacama desert. The Nazca Lines are indeed in the Nazca desert, but they are a completely different and separate topic. You are confusing the two.
No trees, no grass, very few people...sounds like paradise to me! :D
You'll be begging to return to society after a day or two.
TH-cam algorithm brought me here. It is offering contrarian and opposing videos to what you were previously watching. Yes, I was watching WAP music video.
Wet ass p word
it seems you've found the driest-ass d-word
After reading the title of this video I can't help but wonder if "Pacific: The Wettest Ocean on Earth" is up next...
The end of this video sounded like it was promoting tourism to Atacama. Very interesting stuff!
Top gear special that took place there was awesome.
The mutation explanation on the mummy can be used literally in every scenario where is a weird looking body, just saying .....
Ironically, the first night we stayed in San Pedro de Atacama it rained.
Ayyyy WSU representing! Go COUGS!
Sidenote: Simon, your keen intuition serves your well. Went sandboarding in Peru's oasis Huacachina. Was an absolute blast! Just remember to bring some close-toed shoes! Ya can't sandboard in flip-flops haha
A marathon around a volcano in the driest desert on earth sounds like my worst nightmare. Just hospitalize me on arrival
I did a report on Chile in sixth grade, so I nailed your pop quiz.
Hilarious! Been to all of the other deserts, but the Atacama is the last one on the list. Thanks Simon and crew.
For what it's worth, I recommend the Thar, the Gobi, and the Taklimashan. The Sahara and Mohave are overrated
@@bradgillette9253why you say those are overrated maybe they just reviewed the most doesn’t mean they’re overrated
Speaking of Humboldt current, there's another good Biographics episode. With some crazy anecdotes IIRC.
17:25 Geezers? I think you mean geyser's my guy.
i mean you can go look at old people too if you feel like it
In 2020 these videos are all the vacation I'm going to get.
Smallest desert in the world is in Carcross Yukon, Canada!
Sorry, why are the Antarctic valleys not "true deserts"? If we measure a desert as the relative absence of annual precipitation, and the Antarctic valleys don't receive much if any annual precipitation, they are by definition "true deserts".
The definition of desert, believe it or not, is actually the topic of ferocious debate in the scientific community
Sand surfing has been around longer than I have. We used to go into the desert and surf the dunes when I was a little kid. You can use anything from a really expensive board to a well waxed piece of cardboard box.
I live in a desert. 81° is great. I see 115-125° in the summer. There are 10 day stretches where it never dips below 100 for a single hour.
You should do a video on Nan Madol. Would make a great Geographic's video
Please do one on the "Cueva de los Tayos" and all the claims surrounding the subject.
You should start a channel where you talk about things that can help people fall asleep, your voice is perfect for it!
Hi Simon. Any chance of a Biographic on Ian Smith or Cecil Rhodes? A Sideproject on The Victoria Falls Bridge, or Zimbabwe Ruins? or a Geographic on The Victoria Falls, or the two toed Dema tribe?
Thanks, love your videos!
Have you done a series or story on the big telescopes of the Atacama specifically? I’d love to see that.
That’s twice I’ve heard Simon say conductive when I think he means conducive. Brilliantly entertaining and informative videos though Simon, thank you, often a go to for something edifying.
Not A-tac-a-ma?
18:07 uhhhmmmm Uyuni is in Bolivia, not Northern Chili. I think you meant Northern Atacama.
17:24, those better be some pretty interesting old people for me to fly to South America to see them. lol
You appear to be from Arizona. There's plenty of geezers down there. LOL
@@ball7066 Well I used to live there and yeah there were. lol
Meanwhile the Puma de Atacama mountain range has the highest concentration of 6000m mountains outside of Asia, including the highest volcano on earth. Most of those 6000ers are easily hikable, one has a road most of the way up.
I think you mean Puna de Atacama . Beautiful area.
@@britvolante autocorrect ftw! Indeed I mean Puna, not Puma.
bro you deserve a more than a million subs and you have top quality videos
Thank you for your videos. I really appreciate all your channels after a hard days work.
This video brought to you by the Atacama Tourism Board. Allegedly.
2:33 even a large hill
Maryland feels attacked
I've went back a few years... simon.. your beard.. has evolved!!
I need to correct you. The Uyuni Salt Flats are in Bolivia. Please
Excellent Research Thank You for sharing
8:00 Right on time
have stopped by this channel since i found it and im glad ive remembered it exists, fuckin lovely voice bro
no homo
Don't forget his other 10
@@sandybarnes887 he has more?
@@dirtydeeds4free553 yes. Many more. 11 or 12 in total.
@@dirtydeeds4free553
Business Blaze
Mega Projects
Side Projects
Top Tenz
Today I Found Out
Biographics
Geographics
Highlight History
Visual Politik
The Brainfood Podcast
I may have missed one or two 🤔
Have you considered doing a program on Craters of the Moon in Idaho? Definitely otherworldly.
That "moderately cool" Segway was one of the smoothest ever!
Good video 👍
It's such a lovely place; I almost want no-one to see this video so that they don't go there and spoil it! Sorry :)
Plaster City CA is so dry, mounds of plaster are stored outside. Likely not historically that dry, but rain has never been recorded.
You don’t have to go all the way to the Attacama you can sand board here in New Mexico out at white sands. Just make sure to go in the morning it’s better the sand has a little dew on it.
I cant get enough of this channel
Yay! Another bucket list place.
Actually I would say that the Atacama is the driest populated desert in the world. There are people who permanently live in the Atacama. No one technically lives in the polar deserts of Antartica on a permanent basis. However, there’s a desert location in Antartica that may not have seen any precipitation for over 1,000,000 years!