Brine mining to meet resource demands amid renewable energy transitions is affecting water resources in South America and China. Hydrologists can help understand how and join the search for solutions.
Atacama Desert
Posted inNews
Researchers Find Bacterial Communities Deep Beneath the Atacama
Extremophile microbes exist in the gypsum-rich “fringes” of the driest place on Earth.
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(Probablemente) No podremos decir si Marte tiene vida
Los equipos de última generación no siempre pueden identificar la vida que habita en los lugares más parecidos a Marte en la Tierra, lo que hace que los científicos se pregunten cómo se se podría hacer mejor en el Planeta Rojo.
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We (Probably) Can’t Tell Whether Mars Has Life
State-of-the-art equipment can’t always identify life inhabiting the most Mars-like spot on Earth, leaving scientists wondering how to do better on the Red Planet.
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Iodine-Laden Desert Dust Is Eating at Ozone Pollution
In a happy accident, scientists found a potential solution to an atmospheric chemistry mystery. Their findings could be a missing piece in the iodine cycle and in atmospheric models.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Understanding Rare Rain Events in the Driest Desert on Earth
A new study reveals the atmospheric paths of storm events that can deliver a decade’s worth of rain in a few hours to the Atacama Desert.
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Glassy Nodules Pinpoint a Meteorite Impact
Researchers working in Chile’s Atacama Desert have collected thousands of “atacamaites” that suggest a meteorite struck the region roughly 8 million years ago.
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Desert Microbes Mine for Water
Scientists studying a cyanobacterium isolated from rock samples in the Atacama Desert found out how the bacteria extract water to live. Their results may help identify likely sites for life on Mars.
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Oldest Meteorite Collection Found in World’s Oldest Desert
Rare 2-million-year record reveals the meteorite flux rate.
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Atacama’s Past Rainfall Followed Pacific Sea Temperature
This is the first paleoclimate record of precipitation near Atacama’s hyperarid core and suggests that its moisture source is different from that of the Andes.