![](\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2015\/07\/proba-v_views_atacama_desert\/15543069-1-eng-GB\/Proba-V_views_Atacama_Desert_small.jpg\")
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\nThe Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth \u2013 despite being right next to the Pacific Ocean \u2013 imaged by ESA\u2019s Proba-V minisatellite.\n<\/p>\n
\nOn average, only a few millimetres of rain reach the arid landscape annually. The cold Humboldt Current running along the northern Chilean coast keeps moisture bound up to the west, while the Andes Mountains block rainfall from the east.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe 100 m-resolution image shows the coast and dry river valleys of the Atacama. The blue\u2013green area to the east is the Salar de Surire, a salt plain containing several lakes with nesting flamingo colonies. Just northeast of this plain, the 5470 m-high Pukintika volcano is visible as a light-blue area.\n<\/p>\n
\nLaunched on 7 May 2013, Proba-V<\/a> is a miniaturised ESA satellite tasked with a full-scale mission: to map land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet every two days.\n<\/p>\n \nIts main camera\u2019s continent-spanning 2250 km swath width collects light in the blue, red, near-infrared and mid-infrared wavebands at 300 m resolution and down to 100 m resolution in its central field of view.\n<\/p>\n \nVITO, the Flemish institute for technological research, processes and then distributes Proba-V data to users. VITO has a produced an online gallery<\/a> highlighting some of the mission\u2019s most striking images so far, including views of storms, fires and deforestation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \t\t\t\t\t \nThe Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth \u2013 despite being right next to the Pacific Ocean \u2013 imaged by ESA\u2019s Proba-V minisatellite.\n<\/p>\n \nOn average, only a few millimetres of rain reach the arid landscape annually. The cold Humboldt Current running along the northern Chilean coast keeps moisture bound up to the west, while the Andes Mountains block rainfall from the east.\n<\/p>\n \nThe 100 m-resolution image shows the coast and dry river valleys of the Atacama. The blue\u2013green area to the east is the Salar de Surire, a salt plain containing several lakes with nesting flamingo colonies. Just northeast of this plain, the 5470 m-high Pukintika volcano is visible as a light-blue area.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n