Indeed, the Earth - the planet of contrasts.More than 70% of its surface covered by water.Because of this, in some cases, it can safely be called "ocean planet."And it is unique.Outside the solar system are open for thousands of planets, but none of them has such a quantity of water as our blue planet.
For all that, there are areas from which you can create a list called "the driest place on earth."Rains in these areas can be expected for a long time, but did not wait.Almost all are in deserts.They are united by a very low average annual rainfall.Even more surprising: there, next to the sand, people live!
Sahara
Two Egyptian contender for the title of "the driest place on earth" - Luxor and Aswan - the city, located on the Nile.The architectural complex of ancient Egyptian civilization in Luxor stagger the imagination, and in the vicinity of Aswan with its famous dam in the ancient quarried stone for the pyramids at Giza.There are frequent severe (150-160 km / h) and hot winds, bringing with them the sand, as if suddenly it starts to rain, it drops evaporate before reaching the ground!
Algerian and Libyan Aoulef Alkufra, despite the almost complete lack of rain, thanks to the green oases and hard human labor.In Alkufra adjacent to the 300-meter layer of sands of the Sahara, beating from underground sources.Here you can enjoy local peaches, figs and apricots.The exact opposite - Wadi Halfa in Sudan, located near the Egyptian border.This city is completely devoid of vegetation.Yes, they are inconceivable in a very dry and hot air.
Namib Desert
Pelican Point - the driest place on earth?Hardly.But in Namibia, most of the territory is desert or semi-desert.But this is not just a town, and a marina on the Atlantic coast.It seems that the water here - more than enough, and rainfall is slightly higher than in Wadi Halfa.But lovely big Atlantic waves made the local places a paradise for surfers.
Atacama Desert
Welcome to Latin America!In Chile, lies the town of Iquique, which is in competition for the title of "the driest place on earth," is located in the ranking right between Wadi Halfa and Pelican Point.And it is full Pacific port!On the beaches of Iquique Chileans fleeing dry weather.Living here is not only for the port but also for the nitrate produced in the surrounding desert.
other Chilean port city - Arica - five times drier his countryman.It would seem that the Pacific Ocean, sufficient moisture, a lot of clouds, but water droplets get to the land is very rare.Moreover, in the surrounding desert there are areas where rain fell last few centuries ago!
Another town bordering the Atacama, located in Peru.This Ica.The fact that the climate is terribly dry was not always convinced archaeologists during excavation when their eyes appeared a large fossilized ... Penguin!Before the discovery of the New World people here mummified dead tribesmen.Now here come with asthma: the dry air of Ica, they say, greatly facilitates their suffering.
Yet none of these people are not dwellings is called "the driest place on earth."
Antarctica
only, perhaps, arid region on the planet, not associated with the desert, called very simple: Dry Valleys McMurdo.In the column, the average rate of precipitation in front of the name is more than eloquent figure - 0. Local places put another astonishing record: wind speed in the Dry Valleys reaches 320 km / h.That's the reason for the aridity: blown away all the moisture possible.And this process continues, according to scientists at least 8 million years!
the driest place in the world is devoid of life: none of the animals here can not survive.Of all the vast diversity of the Earth's biosphere is found only feeble plants so bacteria.Another eloquent testimony: Dry Valleys natural conditions strikingly similar to Mars.Not by chance in the mid-1970s, NASA tested in the harsh conditions of the Dry Valleys landing blocks Mars probe "Viking", later to work successfully on Mars.
