1.) The high Andes Mountains to the east that block moisture from the Amazon Basin and Atlantic Ocean from reaching the Atacama.
2.) The coastal mountain ranges that prevent Pacific moisture from reaching the desert.
3.) The cold Humboldt Current in the Pacific brings cold water to the coastline that has little evaporation.
4.) A perpetual inversion layer hangs over the desert. The upper atmosphere is warmer than the surface air. This prevents convection that could form rain clouds.
5.) Even when there is evaporation from the Pacific, the prevailing winds are from the east and the moisture is blown in a westerly direction, away from the desert.
The Atacama desert, the driest desert in the world.
Antarctica and the Atacama Desert are the driest deserts in the world.
The coldest desert is the Patagonian Desert and the driest is the Atacama Desert.
The Sechura Desert (also known as the Nazca Desert) is not the driest in the world. It does border on the Atacama Desert which many consider the driest desert.
The Antarctic Desert and the Atacama Desert share the honor of being the driest areas in the world.
The two driest areas in the world are Antarctica and the Atacama Desert.
The large desert in northern Chile is the Atacama Desert. The Atacama is the driest non-polar desert in the world.
The Atacama desert, the driest desert in the world.
Both the Atacama Desert and the Antarctic Desert share the honor as the driest on earth. The Antarctic is a polar desert and the Atacama is a cool coastal desert - both classified as cold deserts.
Parts of Antarctica and the Atacama Desert in Chile are the driest places in the world.
The Atacama Desert (Chile) is the driest desert in the world and Sahara is the largest hot desert with a span of 9,000,000 square kilometres (3,500,000 sq. mi.).The Atacama Desert (Chile) is the driest desert in the world, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications.
The Atacama, a 966 km long plateau in South America, is considered to be the world's driest desert. It lies mostly within Chile and Peru west of the Andes Mountains. The Atacama is 50 times drier than Death Valley, in California.Antarctica is considered by many scientists as even drier that the Atacama Desert.The Antarctic and the Atacama Desert share that distinction.Atacama desert