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Climate and coastal low-cloud dynamic in the hyperarid Atacama fog Desert and the geographic distribution of Tillandsia landbeckii (Bromeliaceae) dune ecosystems

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Abstract

Despite the extensive area covered by the coastal Atacama fog Desert (18–32° S), there is a lack of understanding of its most notorious characteristics, including fog water potential, frequency of fog presence, spatial fog gradients or fog effect in ecosystems, such as Tillandsia fields. Here we discuss new meteorological data for the foggiest season (July–August–September, JAS) in 2018 and 2019. Our meteorological stations lie between 750 and 1211 m a. s. l. at two sites within the Cordillera de la Costa in the hyperarid Atacama (20° S): Cerro Oyarbide and Alto Patache. The data show steep spatial gradients together with rapid changes in the low atmosphere linked to the advection of contrasting coastal (humid and cold) and continental (dry and warm) air masses. One main implication is that fog presence and fog water yields tend to be negatively related to both distance to the coast and elevation. Strong afternoon SW winds advect moisture inland, which take the form of fog in only about 6% of the JAS at 1211 m a. s. l., but 65% at 750 m a. s. l. on the coastal cliff. Although sporadic, long lasting fog events embrace well-mixed marine boundary layer conditions and thick fog cloud between 750 and 1211 m a. s. l. These fog events are thought to be the main source of water for the Tillandsia ecosystems and relate their geographic distribution to the lowest fog water yields recorded. Future climate trends may leave fog-dependent Tillandsia even less exposed to the already infrequent fog resulting in rapid vegetation decline.

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Modified from Lobos et al. (2018)

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to the Centro UC Desierto de Atacama, Estación Atacama UC_Alto Patache and Constanza Vargas for field support. This research was funded by the Vicerrectoría de Investigación Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID-Chile) grant ELAC2015/T01-0872. Station AP750, meteorological measurements at Iquique Airport and work of J.H. Schween were funded by the Collaborative Research Centre 1211 “Earth—Evolution at the Dry Limit” of the German Research Foundation (DFG SFB 1211, Projektnummer 268236062). Camilo del Río would like to thank the ANID/FONDECYT Iniciación grant No 11200789. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments improving the quality of this paper.

Funding

Vicerrectoría de Investigación Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID-Chile) international Grant ELAC2015/T01-0872, FONDECYT 11200789. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) Collaborative Research Centre 1211 “Earth—Evolution at the Dry Limit” (SFB 1211, Projektnummer 268236062).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Geografía, Facultad de Historia, Geografía y Ciencia Política, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Juan-Luis García, Camilo del Río, Pablo Osses, Raimundo Vives & Mariana Pezoa

  2. Centro UC Desierto de Atacama, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Juan-Luis García, Camilo del Río, Pablo Osses, Raimundo Vives, Mariana Pezoa & Claudio Latorre

  3. Departamento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Felipe Lobos-Roco

  4. Meteorology and Air Quality Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Felipe Lobos-Roco

  5. Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Jan H. Schween & Ulrich Loehnert

  6. Heidelberg Center for the Environment and Institute for Geography, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

    Alexander Siegmund

  7. Research Group for Earth Observation (rgeo), Department of Geography, Heidelberg University of Education, Heidelberg, Germany

    Alexander Siegmund

  8. Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Claudio Latorre

  9. Instituto de Ecología and Biodiversidad (IEB), Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile

    Claudio Latorre & Fernando Alfaro

  10. GEMA Center for Genomics, Ecology and Environment, Universidad Mayor, Camino La Piramide 5750, Huechuraba, Santiago, Chile

    Fernando Alfaro

  11. Centre for Organismal Studies, Heidelberg University, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Marcus A. Koch

  12. Heidelberg Center for the Environment HCE, Heidelberg University, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Marcus A. Koch

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  1. Juan-Luis García
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Correspondence to Juan-Luis García.

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García, JL., Lobos-Roco, F., Schween, J.H. et al. Climate and coastal low-cloud dynamic in the hyperarid Atacama fog Desert and the geographic distribution of Tillandsia landbeckii (Bromeliaceae) dune ecosystems. Plant Syst Evol 307, 57 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-021-01775-y

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