Two extreme regions on Earth, one has not rained for 400 years, and the other is even more amazing

Due to differences in latitudinal position, land and sea location, and topography, the climate varies in many parts of the planet. Some regions have a year-round arid climate with little rain, while others have a year-round warm and rainy climate. The life nurtured by different climates increases natural biodiversity. But some areas of the planet have extreme climates, either extremely dry or extremely wet, making it impossible for many organisms to survive in such environments.

The South American country of Chile has a place called the "Arid Pole", which is said to be the driest place in the world, arider than the world's largest desert, the Sahara. And the world's most flooded with rain is in northern India, so the region is also known as the "rain pole". So where are the dry pole and the rain pole? How are their climatic characteristics formed?

How did the Atacama Desert get the title of "Dry Pole"?

The "dry pole" is the Atacama Desert in Chile, which is located halfway between the Coastal Mountains and the Andes. If we look at the world map, we will find that Chile is the most "slim" country in the world. The country is not large in size, but long in length, surrounded by two continuous mountains on the east and west, and the Atacama Desert is in the center of the mountains. According to the data, the Atacama Desert is about 1000 km long from north to south, with a total area of about 181,300 square kilometers.

The Atacama Desert is called the "dry pole" because there is no rainfall all year round. According to the locals, the region did not receive any rainfall from the 16th to the 20th century. If this is true, then the record of 400 years of no rainfall is unbeatable for any region. There is also a more reliable theory that rainfall stopped in the region in 1845 and did not occur again until 1936.

Although the second theory has a higher rainfall record than the first, no region other than the North and South Poles has gone 91 years without rainfall, making the Atacama Desert the "dry pole" of the world. Even though the region has been experiencing annual rainfall in recent decades, the Atacama Desert has long maintained an average annual precipitation level of fewer than 0.1 millimeters, according to the Chilean meteorological department.

Why is the Atacama Desert so dry despite its proximity to the sea?

Many deserts on earth are found inland, such as the Taklamakan Desert in China and the Sahara Desert in Africa. Part of the reason for the formation of these deserts is that they are far from the ocean, and ocean water vapor cannot be delivered, thus causing a long-term arid climate. Combined with the effects of human activities, such as overgrazing, overexploitation of water sources, and reckless exploitation of forest resources, inland deserts are easily formed. Yet take another look at the Atacama Desert, and you will find that this desert is not inland, but near the Pacific Ocean.

So the question is, why would such a region near the Pacific Ocean also form a desert? Many geographers in China and abroad have paid attention to this phenomenon and studied the reasons behind it from several aspects. First of all, the Atacama Desert is located in a unique geographical location, which is surrounded by two mountain ranges on the left and right. The coastal mountain range on the left is more than one thousand meters above sea level, directly blocking the water vapor from the Pacific Ocean.

On the right, the Antigua Mountains are 6,962 meters above sea level, blocking the upper Amazon rainforest vapor that could have been sent to the center of Chile, resulting in the Atacama region not receiving enough water vapor. The second is affected by the Peruvian cold current, according to research, the Peruvian cold current through the Chilean coastline will take away a lot of moisture in the air, making the original lack of water vapor Atacama "worse".

The latitude of the Atacama region puts it in the grip of subtropical high pressure. Those who have studied geography in secondary school should have heard of the term "subtropical high pressure", which can cause a sudden drop in rainfall in an area. The combination of climate zone, latitude, and geographic location means that the Atacama Desert has very little rainfall even though it is close to the Pacific Ocean and the Amazon rainforest.

It turns out that the dry pole is not useless

Many people would think that since the Atacama Desert is the world's dry pole, what is the significance of the existence of such a place? The existence of the Arctic Pole is more significant than we can imagine, as the area not only has certain mineral and biological resources but also is an important site for scientific experiments. It is known that people in the Atacama Desert region have found mineral resources such as copper ore and sodium nitrate, the latter is an important raw material for making explosives and fertilizers.

As for the biological resources, do not think that the dry pole is very arid, there is no life. According to research, there are about 200 species of flowers that are unique in the Atacama Desert, and when they bloom, they attract insects, birds, and other creatures, turning an otherwise dead scene into a vibrant one. Those who know Chile's tourism resources will have heard of the Atacama Desert's "Valley of the Moon", where visitors can enjoy beautiful sunsets and naturally formed sculptures.

The Atacama Desert is considered to be the closest place on Earth to the Martian environment due to its unique climatic conditions, and NASA has been conducting a series of simulations there since the last century. According to NASA scientists, they usually choose the Atacama Desert as the test site for the Mars rover. Because the air there is very dry, the surface of the ground is almost an inch of grass, the soil is very acidic, and almost no microorganisms can survive, and Mars is very close to the situation.

If the Mars rover can find some life or traces of life in this environment, at least it can undertake the task of exploring life on Mars.

Where is the "Rain Pole" of the world?

After introducing the "world's dry pole", let's learn more about the world's "rain pole", which is located in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya, Kilapunji. The resident population of this place is around 10,000, with the number of men slightly smaller than the number of women, partly because the local society is in a matriarchal state. It is said that the men of Kilapunzi have to move in with their wives after marriage, and the children born afterward have to follow the mother's family name.

Geographically, Kilapunji is located in the southern foothills of the Himalayas. Although Kilapunji is located in a mountain pass with an altitude of up to 1,313 meters, its terrain is lower than that of the surrounding areas, so when the rainy season occurs, many parts of Kilapunji will become a lake swamp. According to the data, the annual rainfall of Kilapunji in 1861 reached 20,447 mm, which is more than 200,000 times that of the Atacama Desert, the dry pole, thus earning it the title of the world's "Rain Pole".

Kilapunji is not the only region in the world that receives a lot of rainfall, but there is no other region that can match the rainfall of Kilapunji. The record set by the region in 1861 lasted for 99 years and was finally broken in 1960, but by its rainfall, with a new record of 26,461.2 mm.

Then the question arises, why is the annual rainfall of Kilapunji so large? First, the southwest monsoon of the Indian Ocean brings abundant rain to northeast India from June to September every year. Secondly, Kilapunjee has a special geographical location as it is surrounded by high mountains, such as the Arakan and Naga mountains bordering Myanmar in the east, the Kasi hills in the north at an altitude of about 1500 meters, and the south open to the ocean.

This results in Kilapunjee acting like a wide "spoon", and when the southwest monsoon of the Indian Ocean forms, it acts as a spoon to catch the moisture carried by the monsoon, so that most of the moisture falls on the Kilapunjee region.

Why is extreme weather increasing?

From the above, it is clear that both the world's dry pole and the world's rain pole are formed by a combination of many factors of nature, not by human factors, so if one can adapt to these two extremes of weather, then one can have a wide living space like the Kilapunzis. But human factors can also influence the climate situation in other areas, especially in the context of global warming, many areas of extreme weather are becoming more and more obvious and more frequent.

In the earth's climate, there is a class of "El Niño" and "La Niña" anomalous climates occasionally appear, and both will lead to an area of climate anomalies, originally wet and rainy climate, affected by the impact became dry and less rain. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has compiled data on the occurrence of El Niño and La Niña phenomena on Earth over the past 20 years and found that the frequency of these two anomalous climatic phenomena on Earth is higher than in the previous history.

Behind the frequent occurrence of extreme climate is the effect of the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is a phenomenon that occurs when the content of atmospheric greenhouse gases reaches a certain level, and when the content of greenhouse gases exceeds a stable level, it leads to an unstable atmosphere, resulting in strong convective weather such as heavy rains, typhoons, and hailstorms in many areas. This extreme weather can cause great loss of life and property to the people on the one hand, and make it more difficult for humans to forecast the weather on the other.

It is also under the influence of the greenhouse effect, it is said that in 2015 the world's dry pole the Atacama Desert had an unprecedented heavy rain. After this heavy rainfall, a sea of flowers appeared in the desert, attracting many tourists to visit. However, most people are fascinated by the natural scenery and do not know the reason behind these scenes. In the face of the increasingly serious climate situation, we should look at the actual situation and seek a chance to reach a consensus on climate issues. If not, the future of humanity will be dark.