Paposo

Coordinates: 25°00′30″S 70°27′53″W / 25.00833°S 70.46472°W / -25.00833; -70.46472 Paposo or Caleta Paposo is a hamlet in the southern part of Antofagasta Province, Chile. Paposo is on the coast of the Pacific Ocean with the low ridges of the Andes a few hundred meters inland. The census of 2002 counted 259 inhabitants.^[1]The inhabitants of Paposo rely on fishing and mining for a living.^[2]

Paposo is best known for its unusual desert climate and the "fog oases" which exist on mountain slopes a few kilometers inland. In a region almost devoid of vegetation, the fog oases, also called lomas, support a variety of flora.

The fog oases of Paposo.

Geography and climate

Paposo is located adjacent to a small cove on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in the Atacama desert, the driest non-polar desert in the world.^[3] Vegetation is nearly absent in most of the Atacama. The Andes foothills rise steeply from the sea, reaching an elevation of 700 metres (2,300 ft) less than 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the coast.^[4]

The Atacama desert in Antofagasta Province.

Paposo and the Atacama have the BWn climate in the Koppen Classification, characterized by mild temperatures, unusual in desert climates, and frequent fog, especially in the southern hemisphere winter, rolling in from the nearby ocean. Average temperatures in Paposo range from 13.4 °C (56.1 °F) in July to 20 °C (68 °F) in January, the warmest month.^[5] Annual precipitation is 16 millimetres (0.63 in). July is the month with most precipitation with 4 millimetres (0.16 in).^[6]

Quebrada de Medano, 18 km north of Paposo, the Pacific Ocean in the distance.

The climatic feature which permits the growth of vegetation on the slopes of the mountains rising above Paposo is the Garua or Camanchaca -- cloud banks caused by the cold waters of the Humboldt Current running offshore in the Pacific. Inland, on mountain slopes, the cloud banks form. The camanchaca, as it is called in Chile, is a dense fog that does not produce rain.^[7] The moisture that makes up the cloud measures between 1 and 40 microns across, too fine to form rain droplets.^[8]

The fog oasis

Near Paposo the Camanchaca fog impacts elevations from 200 metres (660 ft) to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) and up to about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) inland from the ocean. Elevations between 400 metres (1,300 ft) and 700 metres (2,300 ft) receive the most moisture from the fog and have the most abundant vegetation. The quebradas (ravines) near Paposo sometimes have running water from higher elevations with greater precipitation.^[9]

The fog oasis at Paposo has more plant species than any other fog oasis in Chile, counting at least 539 plant species in the Paposo area of which 58 percent are endemic to Chile and 16 are found only near Paposo.^[10]

Wildlife in the fog oasis includes the guanaco and two species of foxes, the culpeo (Andean fox) and the South American gray fox.^[11]

In 2013, the government of Chile, created the "Natural Monument of North Paposo" (Monumento Natural Paposo Norte) with an area of 7,915 hectares (19,560 acres). The Natural Monument is entered 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) east of the town of Paposo along both sides of highway B-710.^[12] The Monument was formerly called the "Reserva Nacional Paposo."

Paranal

Paposo is the nearest community to the Paranal Observatory, the second largest observatory in the world. The observatory is located on Paranal mountain about 38 kilometres (24 mi) in straight-line distance north of Paposo. The observatory is located about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) from the sea and at an altitude of 2,635 metres (8,645 ft), thus outside the area influenced by the Camanchaca fog.^[13]

References