NASA Field Trip to Chile: 1. Atacama Desert 2. Volcan Licancabur

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

NASA Field Trip to Chile: 1. Atacama Desert 2. Volcan Licancabur NASA Field Trip to Chile: 1. Atacama Desert 2. Volcan Licancabur R. B. Darling Oct. 28 – Nov. 11, 2003 Yungay Station in the Atacama Desert Home for a week NASA tour group Dusty ride Molecular biology lab in the desert Old mine worker’s gravesite Clean room suits in the desert Soil Sampling Chris MacKay preparing for air sampling with baloon (Greg Kovacs photo) Graduate students work the shovels (Greg Kovacs photo) Low clouds over the Pacific Ocean and Coastal Range 4WD Roads Watching Sun Spots WWII nitrate plant ruins and strip mined hillside Fractured rocks on hillside Teaching rappelling school (Greg Kovacs photo) Soil sampling down mine shaft (Greg Kovacs photo) Results from two days of sampling down the mine shaft Sunset at Yungay Station Afternoon shadows and the moon diving North Chilean coastline Typical roadside monument to bad driving Valle de Luna (where Apollo lunar rover was tested) Street in San Pedro de Atacama Church in San Pedro de Atacama Church interior Volcan Licancabur at 19,500 ft. from San Pedro de Atacama Volcan Licancabur Licancabur Refuge at 13,500 ft. elevation Laguna Blanca at 13,500 ft. elevation Laguna Blanca near Volcan Licancabur Volcan Licancabur from Laguna Blanca Exploring stromatolith field Transmitting live EKG data back to Ames Research Center Pink (James) Flamingos in Laguna Blanca Vicunas (Greg Kovacs photo) Navigational transect across Laguna Blanca (Greg Kovacs photo) View of Laguna Verde and Laguna Blanca from 17,000 ft on Licancabur (Greg Kovacs photo) Camp 1 at 17,000 ft. on Licancabur (Greg Kovacs photo) Copper smelter near Iquique, Chile Turkey vultures Steeple of Arequipa and surrounding mountains Church in Arequipa Plaza de Armes Fountain in Arequipa Plaza de Armes Plaza de Armes in Arequipa Arequipa skyline Arequipa architecture Volcan El Misti from Arequipa Hotel parrot.
Recommended publications
  • Mitigation of Environmental Extremes As a Possible Indicator of Extended Habitat Sustainability for Lakes on Early Mars
    Invited Paper Mitigation of Environmental Extremes as a Possible Indicator of Extended Habitat Sustainability for Lakes on Early Mars Nathalie A. Cabrol*a, Edmond A. Grina, Andrew N. Hockb aNASA Ames Research Center/SETI Carl Sagan Center, Space Science Division, MS 245-3. Moffett Field, CA 94035- 1000, USA; bUCLA. Dpt. of Earth & Space Sciences. 595 Charles Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567. ABSTRACT The impact of individual extremes on life, such as UV radiation (UVR), temperatures, and salinity is well documented. However, their combined effect in nature is not well-understood while it is a fundamental issue controlling the evolution of habitat sustainability within individual bodies of water. Environmental variables combine in the Bolivian Altiplano to produce some of the highest, least explored and most poorly understood lakes on Earth. Their physical environment of thin atmosphere, high ultraviolet radiation, high daily temperature amplitude, ice, sulfur-rich volcanism, and hydrothermal springs, combined with the changing climate in the Andes and the rapid loss of aqueous habitat provide parallels to ancient Martian lakes at the Noachian/Hesperian transition 3.7-3.5 Ga ago. Documenting this analogy is one of the focuses of the High-Lakes Project (HLP). The geophysical data we collected on three of them located up to 5,916 m elevation suggests that a combination of extreme factors does not necessarily translate into a harsher environment for life. Large and diverse ecosystems adapt to UVR reaching 200%-216% that of sea level in bodies of water sometimes no deeper than 50 cm, massive seasonal freeze-over, and unpredictable daily evolution of UVR and temperature.
    [Show full text]
  • Rain Shadows
    WEB TUTORIAL 24.2 Rain Shadows Text Sections Section 24.4 Earth's Physical Environment, p. 428 Introduction Atmospheric circulation patterns strongly influence the Earth's climate. Although there are distinct global patterns, local variations can be explained by factors such as the presence of absence of mountain ranges. In this tutorial we will examine the effects on climate of a mountain range like the Andes of South America. Learning Objectives • Understand the effects that topography can have on climate. • Know what a rain shadow is. Narration Rain Shadows Why might the communities at a certain latitude in South America differ from those at a similar latitude in Africa? For example, how does the distribution of deserts on the western side of South America differ from the distribution seen in Africa? What might account for this difference? Unlike the deserts of Africa, the Atacama Desert in Chile is a result of topography. The Andes mountain chain extends the length of South America and has a pro- nounced influence on climate, disrupting the tidy latitudinal patterns that we see in Africa. Let's look at the effects on climate of a mountain range like the Andes. The prevailing winds—which, in the Andes, come from the southeast—reach the foot of the mountains carrying warm, moist air. As the air mass moves up the wind- ward side of the range, it expands because of the reduced pressure of the column of air above it. The rising air mass cools and can no longer hold as much water vapor. The water vapor condenses into clouds and results in precipitation in the form of rain and snow, which fall on the windward slope.
    [Show full text]
  • An Integrated Analysis of the March 2015 Atacama Floods
    PUBLICATIONS Geophysical Research Letters RESEARCH LETTER An integrated analysis of the March 2015 10.1002/2016GL069751 Atacama floods Key Points: Andrew C. Wilcox1, Cristian Escauriaza2,3, Roberto Agredano2,3,EmmanuelMignot2,4, Vicente Zuazo2,3, • Unique atmospheric, hydrologic, and 2,3,5 2,3,6 2,3,7,8 2,3 9 geomorphic factors generated the Sebastián Otárola ,LinaCastro , Jorge Gironás , Rodrigo Cienfuegos , and Luca Mao fl largest ood ever recorded in the 1 2 Atacama Desert Department of Geosciences, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, USA, Departamento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y 3 • The sediment-rich nature of the flood Ambiental, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile, Centro de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada de resulted from valley-fill erosion rather Desastres Naturales (CIGIDEN), Santiago, Chile, 4University of Lyon, INSA Lyon, CNRS, LMFA UMR5509, Villeurbanne, France, than hillslope unraveling 5Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA, 6Escuela de • Anthropogenic factors increased the fi 7 consequences of the flood and Ingeniería Civil, Ponti cia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile, Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable 8 highlight the need for early-warning (CEDEUS), Santiago, Chile, Centro Interdisciplinario de Cambio Global, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, systems Chile, 9Departamento de Ecosistemas y Medio Ambiente, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile Supporting Information: Abstract In March 2015 unusual ocean and atmospheric conditions produced many years’ worth of • Supporting Information S1 rainfall in a ~48 h period over northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of Earth’s driest regions, resulting in Correspondence to: catastrophic flooding.
    [Show full text]
  • Environments
    EXTREME Environments Deborah Underwood EXTREME Environments Deborah Underwood Contents A World of Extremes 2 Chapter 1: The Coolest Places on Earth 4 Chapter 2: The Driest Desert 16 Chapter 3: Hot Spots 20 Chapter 4: Water, Water Everywhere 28 Chapter 5: The World’s Worst Climate? 36 Chapter 6: Under the Sea 42 Index 48 A World of Extremes Imagine a mountaintop where plumes of ice grow at the rate of one foot every hour, where you can watch a beautiful ice sculpture form over the course of one day. What about a desert where decades pass without rain, and the ground is dry and cracked in a thousand different places. How could anything possibly live there? Imagine winds that gust at speeds of 200 miles per hour. Could you survive out in the open with such winds blasting against you? How about temperatures of more than 130° Fahrenheit? What’s it like trying to survive in such harsh environments? 2 Now try to imagine a place that has never seen the sun’s rays. This is a place where there is nothing but darkness all day, all year round. What sort of creature could live there? Would it look like anything you’ve ever seen before? In this book we’ll visit some of Earth’s most extreme climates. We’ll see why these climates are so difficult to live in, and we’ll also check out some of the amazing creatures that call these places their homes. So grab a heavy coat, some sunscreen, an umbrella, and a big water bottle—we need to be ready for anything! 3 Chapter 1 The Coolest Places on Earth Got your parka zipped up and your gloves on? Good, because the first stop on our extreme climate tour will be one of the coldest places in the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Explora Atacama І Hikes
    ATACAMA explorations explora Atacama І Hikes T2 Reserva Tatio T4 Cornisas Nights of acclimatization Nights of acclimatization needed: 2 needed: 0 Type: Half day Type: Half day Duration: 1h Duration: 2h 30 min Distance: 2,3 km / 1,4 mi Distance: 6,7 kms / 4,2 mi Max. Altitude: 4.321 m.a.s.l / Max. Altitude: 2.710 m.a.s.l / HIKES 14.176 f.a.s.l 8.891 f.a.s.l Description: This exploration Description: Departing by van, we offers a different way of visiting head toward the Catarpe Valley Our hikes have been designed according the Tatio geysers, a geothermal by an old road. From there, we to different interests and levels of skill. field with over 80 boiling water hike along the ledges of La Sal They vary in length and difficulty so we sources. In this trip there are Mountains, with panoramic views always recommend travelers to talk to their excellent opportunities of studying of the oasis, the Atacama salt flat, guides before choosing an exploration. the highlands fauna, which includes and The, La Sal, and Domeyko Every evening, guides brief travelers vicuñas, flamingos and foxes, Mountains, three mountain ranges on the different explorations, so that among others. We walk through the that shape the region’s geography. they can choose one that best fit their reserve with views of The Mountains By the end of the exploration we interests. Exploration times do not consider and steaming hot water sources. descend through Marte Valley’s sand transportation. Return to the hotel by van.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of ENSO in the Atacama Desert and Australian Arid Zone: Exploratory Time-Series Analysis of Archaeological Records
    Chungara, Revista de Antropología Chilena ISSN: 0716-1182 [email protected] Universidad de Tarapacá Chile Williams, Alan; Santoro, Calogero M.; Smith, Michael A.; Latorre, Claudio The impact of ENSO in the Atacama desert and Australian arid zone: exploratory time-series analysis of archaeological records Chungara, Revista de Antropología Chilena, vol. 40, 2008, pp. 245-259 Universidad de Tarapacá Arica, Chile Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=32609903 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative The impact of ENSO in the Atacama Desert and Australian arid zone:Volumen Exploratory 40 Número time-series Especial, analysis… 2008. Páginas 245-259245 Chungara, Revista de Antropología Chilena THE IMPACT OF ENSO IN THE ATACAMA DESERT AND AUSTRALIAN ARID ZONE: EXPLORATORY TIME-SERIES ANALYSIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDS1 EL IMPACTO DE ENSO EN EL DESIERTO DE ATACAMA Y LA ZONA ÁRIDA DE AUSTRALIA: ANÁLISIS EXPLORATORIOS DE SERIES TEMPORALES ARQUEOLÓGICAS Alan Williams2, Calogero M. Santoro3, Michael A. Smith4, and Claudio Latorre5 A comparison of archaeological data in the Atacama Desert and Australian arid zone shows the impact of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) over the last 5,000 years. Using a dataset of > 1400 radiocarbon dates from archaeological sites across the two regions as a proxy for population change, we develop radiocarbon density plots, which are then used to explore the responses of these prehistoric populations to ENSO climatic variability.
    [Show full text]
  • Vestigios Arqueológicos Incaicos En Las Cumbres De La Zona Atacameña
    Estudios Atacameños Nº 6, pp. 37-48 (1978) Vestigios arqueológicos incaicos en las cumbres de la zona atacameña Gustavo Le Paige1 Introducción acompañen fogones y rumas de leña la que a veces encontramos diseminada en diferentes sectores y a Desde hace un tiempo hemos tenido la intención diferentes alturas en nuestras ascensiones, lo cual de entregar a nuestros lectores algunas evidencias parece indicar que se trató de mantener una buena arqueológicas del Periodo Inca en la zona atacame- cantidad de madera para cualquier ocasión. ña. Cuestión que habíamos adelantado ya en algo en el número 5 de esta revista (Le Paige 1977). Sin En relación al material e información que tenemos, embargo, esa vez además de planos, croquis y fo- la cumbre del volcán Licancabur es la que más nos tografías presentamos el trabajo sobre una hipótesis ha aportado. Esta cumbre fue ascendida en 1886 por de distribución espacial y cómo ocuparon los incas una expedición francesa dando a conocer por primera estas cumbres. Sin duda se trata de funciones de vez las ruinas y leña que se encontraban en la cima. carácter sagrado y sirvieron además como medio de Cuestión que fue corroborada los años 1956 y 1972 comunicación y respeto religioso por parte de los por un equipo de militares y el autor, confirmando incas. Además, en nuestra zona este periodo recién además la pérdida de una estatuilla donada al Museo empieza a conocerse a la luz de nuevos trabajos de Historia Natural de Santiago por la expedición de sistemáticos como es el caso de la excavación del 1886, a la vez que logramos describir los conjuntos tambo de Catarpe por parte de un equipo chileno- ceremoniales (Figuras 1, 2, 3 y 4), cuestión que fue norteamericano.
    [Show full text]
  • Long Term Atmospheric Deposition As the Source of Nitrate and Other Salts in the Atacama Desert, Chile
    Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 68, No. 20, pp. 4023-4038, 2004 Copyright © 2004 Elsevier Ltd Pergamon Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0016-7037/04 $30.00 ϩ .00 doi:10.1016/j.gca.2004.04.009 Long term atmospheric deposition as the source of nitrate and other salts in the Atacama Desert, Chile: New evidence from mass-independent oxygen isotopic compositions 1, 2 1 GREG MICHALSKI, *J.K.BÖHLKE and MARK THIEMENS 1Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0356, USA 2United States Geological Survey, 431 National Center, Reston, VA 20192, USA (Received August 19, 2003; accepted in revised form April 7, 2004) Abstract—Isotopic analysis of nitrate and sulfate minerals from the nitrate ore fields of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile has shown anomalous 17O enrichments in both minerals. ⌬17O values of 14–21 ‰ in nitrate and0.4to4‰insulfate are the most positive found in terrestrial minerals to date. Modeling of atmospheric processes indicates that the ⌬17O signatures are the result of photochemical reactions in the troposphere and stratosphere. We conclude that the bulk of the nitrate, sulfate and other soluble salts in some parts of the Atacama Desert must be the result of atmospheric deposition of particles produced by gas to particle conversion, with minor but varying amounts from sea spray and local terrestrial sources. Flux calculations indicate that the major salt deposits could have accumulated from atmospheric deposition in a period of 200,000 to 2.0 M years during hyper-arid conditions similar to those currently found in the Atacama Desert.
    [Show full text]
  • Ncomms8100.Pdf
    ARTICLE Received 14 Jul 2014 | Accepted 1 Apr 2015 | Published 11 May 2015 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8100 Evidence for photochemical production of reactive oxygen species in desert soils Christos D. Georgiou1, Henry J. Sun2, Christopher P. McKay3, Konstantinos Grintzalis1, Ioannis Papapostolou1, Dimitrios Zisimopoulos1, Konstantinos Panagiotidis1, Gaosen Zhang4, Eleni Koutsopoulou5, George E. Christidis6 & Irene Margiolaki1 The combination of intense solar radiation and soil desiccation creates a short circuit in the biogeochemical carbon cycle, where soils release significant amounts of CO2 and reactive nitrogen oxides by abiotic oxidation. Here we show that desert soils accumulate metal superoxides and peroxides at higher levels than non-desert soils. We also show the photo- generation of equimolar superoxide and hydroxyl radical in desiccated and aqueous soils, respectively, by a photo-induced electron transfer mechanism supported by their mineralogical composition. Reactivity of desert soils is further supported by the generation of hydroxyl radical via aqueous extracts in the dark. Our findings extend to desert soils the photogeneration of reactive oxygen species by certain mineral oxides and also explain previous studies on desert soil organic oxidant chemistry and microbiology. Similar processes driven by ultraviolet radiation may be operating in the surface soils on Mars. 1 Department of Biology, University of Patras, Patras 26504, Greece. 2 Desert Research Institute, Las Vegas, Nevada 89119, USA. 3 NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA. 4 Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 73000, China. 5 Laboratory of Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis, University of Patras, Patras 26500, Greece. 6 Department of Mineral Resources Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Chania 73100, Greece.
    [Show full text]
  • Atmospheric Deposition Across the Atacama Desert, Chile Compositions, Source Distributions, and Interannual Comparisons
    Chemical Geology 525 (2019) 435–446 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Chemical Geology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemgeo Atmospheric deposition across the Atacama Desert, Chile: Compositions, source distributions, and interannual comparisons T ⁎ Jianghanyang Lia, Fan Wangb,c, , Greg Michalskia,d, Benjamin Wilkinsd a Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA b School of Atmospheric Sciences, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Climate Change and Natural Disaster Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai 519082, China c Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai 519082, China d Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Editor: Donald Porcelli Hyper-arid areas such as the Atacama Desert accumulated significant amounts of insoluble dust and soluble salts Keywords: from the atmosphere, providing minable salt deposits as well as mimicking the surface processes on Mars. The Atacama Desert deposition rates, compositions and sources, however, were poorly constrained. Especially, the variabilities of Atmospheric deposition atmospheric deposition in the Atacama Desert corresponding to a changing climate were unassessed. In this Interannual comparison work, the atmospheric depositions collected using dust traps across a west-east elevation gradient in the Sulfur isotopes Atacama (~23°S) from 1/2/2010 to 12/31/2011 were analyzed and compared to previous results in 2007–2009. The insoluble dust deposition rates in our sampling period were significantly higher than those of 2007–2009 in most dust traps, which was attributed to the changes in wind, highlighting the importance of long-term mon- itoring of insoluble dust fluxes.
    [Show full text]
  • Desert-2.Pdf
    Desert Contens Top Ten Facts PG 1 front cover 1 All Deserts are all different but they all have low amounts of rain PG 2 contens 2 Deserts normally have less than 40 CM a year 3 The Sahara desert is in Northern Africa and is over 12 different countries PG 3 top ten facts 4 Sahara desert is the largest desert in the Earth PG 4 whether and climate 5 Only around 20% of the Deserts on Earth are covered in sand 6 Around one third of the Earth's surface is covered in Desert PG 5 desert map 7 The largest cold Desert on Earth is Antarctica PG 6 animals and people that live there 8 Located in South America, the Atacama Desert is the driest place in the world PG 7 what grows there 9 Lots of animals live in Deserts such as the wild dog 10 The Arabian Desert in the Middle East is the second largest hot desert on Earth but is substantially smaller than the Sahara. This is a list of the deserts in Wether And Climate the world Arabian Desert. ... Kalahari Desert. ... Wether Mojave Desert. ... Sonoran Desert. ... Chihuahuan Desert. ... This is a map showing Deserts are usually very, very dry. Even the wettest deserts get less than ten Thar Desert. ... the deserts in the world inches of precipitation a year. In most places, rain falls steadily throughout the Gibson Desert. year. But in the desert, there may be only a few periods of rains per year with a lot of time between rains.
    [Show full text]
  • World Deserts
    HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY World Deserts Reader Frog in the Australian Outback Joshua tree in the Mojave Desert South American sheepherder Camel train across the Sahara Desert THIS BOOK IS THE PROPERTY OF: STATE Book No. PROVINCE Enter information COUNTY in spaces to the left as PARISH instructed. SCHOOL DISTRICT OTHER CONDITION Year ISSUED TO Used ISSUED RETURNED PUPILS to whom this textbook is issued must not write on any page or mark any part of it in any way, consumable textbooks excepted. 1. Teachers should see that the pupil’s name is clearly written in ink in the spaces above in every book issued. 2. The following terms should be used in recording the condition of the book: New; Good; Fair; Poor; Bad. World Deserts Reader Creative Commons Licensing This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. You are free: to Share—to copy, distribute, and transmit the work to Remix—to adapt the work Under the following conditions: Attribution—You must attribute the work in the following manner: This work is based on an original work of the Core Knowledge® Foundation (www.coreknowledge.org) made available through licensing under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This does not in any way imply that the Core Knowledge Foundation endorses this work. Noncommercial—You may not use this work for commercial purposes. Share Alike—If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. With the understanding that: For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work.
    [Show full text]