A 68 ka precipitation record from the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile

Surface Morphologies in a Mars-Analog Ca-Sulfate Salar, High Andes, Northern Chile

“…Such events are controlled by the complex hydrometeorological patterns of the southern Pacific Ocean. The more usual configuration of SE Trade Winds bringing moisturedepleted air over the Andes is disrupted episodically (Garreaud et al, 2009;Diederich et al, 2020). These interruptions are known as El Niño events, which are linked to high sea-surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean (Garreaud et al, 2009;Bozkurt et al, 2016;Urrutia et al, 2019).…”

“…These interruptions are known as El Niño events, which are linked to high sea-surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean (Garreaud et al, 2009;Bozkurt et al, 2016;Urrutia et al, 2019). This relatively common weather pattern, which is part of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), disrupts the southeasterly trade winds and allows moist air to flow inland from the warm Pacific Ocean leading to austral winter precipitation events in parts of the Atacama desert (Houston and Hartley, 2003;Houston, 2006;Diederich et al, 2020;Meseguer-Ruiz et al, 2020). However, El Niño events have a different effect on the Altiplano.…”

The Role of Moisture Conveyor Belts for Precipitation in the Atacama Desert

“…For example, an MCB that made landfall on June 7, 2017 resulted in rainfall amounts, which exceeded average decadal rates (Figure 1a). Events of such scale presumably dominate the traces, which are identified in paleoclimate archives (Diederich et al., 2020; Jordan et al., 2019; Ritter et al., 2019).…”

Aquatic community structure as sentinel of recent environmental changes unraveled from lake sedimentary records from the Atacama Desert, Chile

“…During glacial periods Pacific frontal systems migrated 150-200 km further north than during interglacial periods [34][35][36][37], creating wetter conditions in southern areas (>23˚S) that are hyperarid today [16,38,39]. In contrast, during the last deglaciation beginning at 17 kyr, the Andean foothills experienced significant increases in summer rainfall producing more runoff on piedmont fans located at 19˚S [40][41][42][43]. Inca Coya Lake is a karstic sinkhole, developed during the Quaternary period by dissolution of calcareous layers of the El Loa Formation.…”