Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert is a desert plateau located on the Pacific coast of South America, covering an area of approximately 105,000 km2 in Chile. It is the driest nonpolar desert in the world, with an average rainfall of about 15 mm per year, and some locations receiving as little as 1 to 3 mm in a year. The extreme aridity is caused by a temperature inversion caused by the cool north-flowing Humboldt ocean current and the strong Pacific anticyclone, creating a two-sided rain shadow effect. The area has been used for Mars expedition simulations due to its similarities to the Martian environment.learn more on wikipedia