We arrived back in northern Chile and at Alto Patache in early Jan. and assessed the damage and impact to the Atacama desert ecosystem caused by unprecedented heavy rain. On Aug. 3, about 80 mm (3.1 in) of rain fell in 24 hrs in a landscape that hadn't seen rain since 1997. This produced an amazing massive, pulse of vascular vegetation that emerged in what was a landscape essentially devoid of plants. Many flowers, including Alstroemeria lutea (found basically only on the ridges in this area) bloomed in prolific quantities. The rains also produced massive floods that scoured many parts of the landscape and destroyed much of the field station at Alto Patache. Below are some photos of what we've seen in the first days back since the rains.
Estacion before the rains.
Estacion after the floods. Notice the deep erosion behind the bathroom buidling on the far left. The kitchen (between the office (right) and bathroom (left)) was filled with sediment and destroyed. The bathroom was also destroyed.
Major erosion next to the bathroom destroyed by the flooding.
Major erosion next to the bathroom at the field station.
Bathroom destroyed by flooding.
The rains produced major flooding at the field station and unleashed shallow but unprecedented and destructive landslides on the slopes around Alto Patache, including in our study area, visible as stripes on the hillside in the image below.