Atacama Desert Sees Largest Bloom in 30 Years

Heavy winter rains linked to the El Niño supercycle have triggered the Atacama Desert’s largest and most colorful wildflower display in about 30 years, with more than 200 species emerging from dormant seeds, bulbs and tubers. The rains also caused destructive flash floods, damaging homes and forcing residents to evacuate, while water reaching deep into the soil awakened plants in areas where blooms had not previously been documented. The flowering period is brief: plants have only a few months to complete their life cycles and set seed before the desert dries again. The spectacle has drawn a sharp increase in visitors, and Chilean biologists are collecting seeds to preserve the plants’ genetic diversity and adaptations to extreme aridity.