A desert stirs to life: Chile's Atacama erupts in its biggest floral display in decades

El Niño rains have transformed Chile's Atacama Desert into a spectacular sea of color, awakening a fleeting ecosystem of flowers and wildlife in one of the driest places on Earth.

<img src='https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4000x2998+0+0/resize/4000x2998!/quality/85/format/webp/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F44%2F27%2F4d4fe4984450a672595971ed542a%2Fdesert-bloom-t-merino-87.jpg' alt='A field of colorful wildflowers blankets the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, transforming the world's driest non-polar desert into a vibrant landscape during the rare flowering desert phenomenon, known locally as the Desierto Florido, or Desert Bloom.'/><p>El Niño rains have transformed Chile's Atacama Desert into a spectacular sea of color, awakening a fleeting ecosystem of flowers and wildlife in one of the driest places on Earth.</p><p>(Image credit: Tamara Merino for NPR)</p><img src='https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-6023812' />