Where is the driest place on earth

Verily, the Earth is a planet of contrasts. More than 70% of its surface is covered with water. Because of this, in some cases, it can be safely called the "planet-ocean." And she is unique. Thousands of planets have already been discovered outside the solar system, but not one of them has as much water as our blue planet.

For all this, there are areas from which you can create a whole list called "the driest places on earth." It is possible to wait for rains in these places for a very long time, but never wait. Almost all of them are in deserts. They are united by an extremely low average annual rainfall. Even more surprising: there, in the neighborhood of the sands, people live!

Sahara Desert

Two Egyptian contenders for the title "the driest place on earth" - Luxor and Aswan - cities located on the Nile. The architectural complexes of the ancient Egyptian civilization in Luxor are staggering, and near Aswan with its famous dam in ancient times they mined a stone for the pyramids in Giza. There are often strong (150-160 km / h) and hot winds that bring sand with you, and if it suddenly rains, then its drops will evaporate before they reach the ground!

Algerian Aoulef and Libyan al-Kufrah, despite the almost complete absence of rainfall, turn green thanks to oases and stubborn human labor. In Al-Kufrah, adjacent to the 300-meter layer of Sahara sand, springs are thrown from the ground. Here you can enjoy local peaches, dates and apricots. The exact opposite is Wadi Halfa in Sudan, located close to the Egyptian border. This city is completely devoid of green spaces. Yes, they are unthinkable in very dry and hot air.

Namib desert

Is Pelican Point the driest place on earth? Unlikely. But in Namibia, most of the territory is occupied by deserts and semi-deserts. But this is not just a town, but a pier on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. It seems to be plenty of water here - more than enough, and there is not much more rainfall than in Wadi Half. But the beautiful big Atlantic waves have made these places a real paradise for surfers.

Atacama Desert

Welcome to latin america! The city of Iquique is located in Chile, which in the competition for the title "the driest place on earth" is located in the ranking just between Wadi Halfa and Pelican Point. And this is a full-fledged Pacific port! On the beaches of Iquique, Chileans flee from arid weather. They live here not only for the sake of the port, but also for the saltpeter mined in the surrounding desert.

Another Chilean port city - Arica - is five times drier than its fellow countryman. It would seem that the Pacific Ocean, sufficient humidity, lots of clouds, but water droplets reach the earth very rarely. Moreover, in the adjoining desert there are areas where the rain last fell several centuries ago!

Another city bordering Atacama is located in Peru. This is Ica. The fact that the climate here was not always murderously dry was confirmed by archaeologists when, during excavations, a large petrified ... penguin appeared before their eyes! Before the opening of the New World, the local residents mummified the deceased tribesmen. Now asthma patients come here: the dry air of Iki, they say, greatly alleviates their suffering.

And yet none of the above dwellings of people is called "the driest place on earth."

Antarctica

The only, perhaps, arid region on the planet that has nothing to do with the desert, is called very simply: Dry McMurdo Valley. In the column of the average rainfall norm, opposite this name is a more than eloquent figure - 0. The local places set another astounding record: the wind speed in the Dry Valleys reaches 320 km / h. This is the reason for the aridity: all possible moisture is blown out of here. And this process continues, according to scientists, for at least 8 million years!

The driest place in the world is devoid of fauna: no animal can survive here. Of all the gigantic diversity of the Earth’s biosphere, only frail plants and bacteria were found here. Another eloquent testimony: in the Dry Valleys, natural conditions are strikingly close to Martian ones. It is no coincidence that in the mid-1970s, NASA experienced the harsh conditions of the Dry Valleys landing blocks of Martian Viking probes, which subsequently successfully operated on Mars.