A desert bloom is a

climatic Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorological ...

phenomenon that occurs in various deserts around the world. The phenomenon consists of the blossoming of a wide variety of

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s during early-mid spring in years when rainfall is unusually high. The blossoming occurs when the unusual level of rainfall reaches seeds and bulbs that have been in a latent or dormant state, and causes them to

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

and flower in early spring. It is accompanied by the proliferation of insects, birds and small species of lizards.

Around the world

Chile

In the

Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert ( es, Desierto de Atacama) is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1,600 km (990 mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes Mountains. The Atacama Desert is the driest nonpolar desert in th ...

, a desert bloom ( es, desierto florido) occurs between the months of September and November in years when rainfall is unusually high. Normally, the Atacama Desert receives less than of rain a year. At its height, the phenomenon can be seen from just south of the city of

Vallenar Vallenar is a city and commune in Atacama Region, Chile. It is the capital of the Huasco Province and is located in the valley of the Huasco River. Vallenar has 52,000 inhabitants. Its main activities are farming and mining. It was founded as S ...

to just north of the city of

Copiapó Copiapó () is a city and commune in northern Chile, located about 65 kilometers east of the coastal town of Caldera. Founded on December 8, 1744, it is the capital of Copiapó Province and Atacama Region. Copiapó lies about 800 km nort ...

throughout the coastal valleys and

Chilean Coast Range The Chilean Coastal Range ( es, Cordillera de la Costa) is a mountain range that runs from north to south along the Pacific coast of South America parallel to the Andean Mountains, extending from Morro de Arica in the north to Taitao Peninsula, ...

from September to November. Climatically, the event is related to the El Niño phenomenon, a band of anomalously warm ocean water temperatures that occasionally develops off the western coast of South America, which can lead to an increase in evaporation and therefore precipitation. The flowering desert is a popular tourist attraction with tourists visiting the phenomenon from various points around the southern Atacama, including

Huasco Huasco () is a Chilean city and commune, in the Huasco Province, Atacama Region. The port city of Huasco is located 50 km west of Vallenar and close to the town of ''Huasco Bajo'', which lies on the southern bank of the Huasco River and o ...

, La Serena,

and

Caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

Plant and animal life

The flowering desert involves more than 200 species of

, most of them

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the Atacama region. The different species germinate at different times through the flowering desert period. Some of the most common species include: * Garra de león (''Bomarea ovallei'') * Pata de guanaco (''Cistanthe grandiflora'') * Añañuca (''Rhodolirium montanum'') * ''Schizopetalon tenuifolium'' The region is also home to cacti,

succulents In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

and other examples of

xerophilous A xerophile () is an extremophilic organism that can grow and reproduce in conditions with a low availability of water, also known as water activity. Water activity (aw) is measured as the humidity above a substance relative to the humidity above p ...

plants, as well as animal species including the

Tuco-tuco A tuco-tuco is a neotropical rodent in the family Ctenomyidae.Parada, A., G. D’Elia, C.J. Bidau, and E.P. Lessa. 2011. Species Groups and the Evolutionary Diversification of Tuco-Tucos, genus ''Ctenomys'' (Rodentia: Ctenomyidae). ''Journal of M ...

and the Four-Eyed Frog.

Conservation

In recent years, concerns have been raised by environmental organizations about the potentially damaging effects of large numbers of tourists visiting the flowering desert, the illegal trade of native flower species, and the development of motorsport. Environmental organizations have suggested that these activities limit the potential for regeneration of the existing species. In response to this, the Chilean Government has established a series of prohibitions and controls, in addition to informative campaigns to the public, and especially to tourists, in order to limit the damage. Comisión del Desierto Florido de la Región de Atacama was created in 1997, and re-launched in 2015, by the regional government of Atacama Region as an agency aimed to finds ways to protect the desert bloom. In June 2022

passed a municipal decree establishing fines for those who damage the desert bloom. On October 2, 2022, the Desierto Florido National Park in 2023 was oficially announced.

Flowering

The phenomenon depends on above-average rainfall, but highly excessive rainfall can limit blooming. For example, in 1997 the region experienced very high total rainfall, with of rain in Copiapó (978% above average) and in Vallenar (433% above average), but there was only minimal desert flowering. In a single day in March 2015, parts of the area received of rain from

El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date ...

, causing flowering in September and October 2015.

Peru

In the South and North of Lima, a desert bloom occurs between the months of September and November. The particularity of the Lima desert bloom is that it goes all the way up to the highlands as the clouds get "stuck" and precipitate water. The other particularity is the green moss that appears.

United States

External links

Atacama Flowers: Pictures by Gerhard Hüdepohl, 1999 - 2015

Flora and Fauna of the Atacama Desert

Video Nº10 – Flowering Desert

Desert Flowers

References

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