What is the driest place on Earth?
The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are the driest place on Earth. Outside the poles, Chile's Atacama Desert is the driest, with some weather stations recording almost no rain.
The Dry Valleys are a region of bare rock and gravel near the Ross Sea. Powerful winds rushing down from the mountains evaporate any moisture, and the surrounding mountains block glaciers from flowing in. Scientists study the valleys because conditions there are similar to Mars.
The Atacama Desert stretches along the Pacific coast of northern Chile. A cold ocean current and the rain shadow of the Andes keep it extremely dry. Average rainfall in some places is only about a millimeter a year, and some stations have gone years without measurable rain.
Life in the driest places
Even here, life finds a way. Hardy bacteria and lichens survive in the Atacama, and when rare rains fall, flowers can carpet parts of the desert in an event called the desierto florido. NASA has tested Mars rovers in the Atacama because of its dry, rocky landscape.
Did You Know?
The Atacama's clear, dry air makes it one of the best places on Earth for astronomy, and several of the world's largest telescopes are built there.