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An extremely rare phenomenon occurred in South America, in the Atacama desert: flowers strew the desert soil. An incredible fact, when this desert is one of the driest places in the world.
It is a breathtaking sight for people venturing into the Atacama Desert, South America. In the middle of the red sand, a bed of colorful flowers. It only took a few drops of rain to germinate thousands of flowers in this desert located in northern Chile. A fascinating spectacle for tourists and scientists alike. “In order to be able to adapt to the climate crisis, we need to understand these natural processes”, explains Andrés Zurita, geneticist at the Chilean Institute for University Agricultural Research.
For this geneticist, “these flowers are a natural laboratory”. Not very water-intensive, they inspire researchers in their research in the face of global warming. But this laboratory is in danger, because the Chilean government wants to force the growth of these plants by irrigating them with water, so that they grow every year. This could upset this very fragile environment. Visible until November, these flowers may reappear in five to seven years.