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Effect of a rain shadow The Tibetan Plateau (center), perhaps the best example of a rain shadow. Rainfalls from the southern South Asian monsoon do not make it far past the Himalayas (seen by the snow line at the bottom), leading to an arid climate on the leeward (north) side of the mountain range and the desertification of the Tarim Basin (top).
The temperate Valdivian, matorral, and Magellanic ecoregions are isolated from the subtropical/tropical forests that dominate northern South America by such landscapes as the Atacama desert (north of the matorral), the Andes Mountains, and the dry, rain-shadow Patagonian steppe east of the Andes.
"Cono de Arita" in the Puna de Atacama, Salta Aconcagua. The Andes (/ ˈ æ n d iː z / AN-deez), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (Spanish: Cordillera de los Andes; Quechua: Anti) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America.
The north–south orientation of the Andes creates a barrier for humid air masses coming from the Pacific Ocean, forming an extensive rain shadow and causing most of the region to be arid. [ 15 ] [ 116 ] South of 52°S, the Andes are lower in elevation, reducing the rain shadow effect in Tierra del Fuego Province and allowing forests to thrive ...
The Atacama Desert (Spanish: Desierto de Atacama) is a desert plateau located on the Pacific coast of South America, in the north of Chile.Stretching over a 1,600-kilometre-long (1,000-mile) strip of land west of the Andes Mountains, it covers an area of 105,000 km 2 (41,000 sq mi), [2] which increases to 128,000 km 2 (49,000 sq mi) if the barren lower slopes of the Andes are included.
Because of its natural structure, Colombia can be divided into six distinct natural regions.These consist of the Andean Region, covering the three branches of the Andes mountains found in Colombia; the Caribbean Region, covering the area adjacent to the Caribbean Sea; the Pacific Region adjacent to the Pacific Ocean; the Orinoquía Region, part of the Llanos plains mainly in the Orinoco river ...
The desert is quite windy as well, a result of the rain shadow effect and descending cool mountain air. This wind helps make the Patagonian one of the largest sources of dust over the South Atlantic Ocean. [8] On the west, the Patagonian grasslands portion of the Patagonian Desert are bounded by nothofagus forests of the Magellanic subpolar ...
The Andes mountain range as seen from a plane, between Santiago de Chile and Mendoza, Argentina, in summer. The Andes (/ ˈ æ n d iː z / AN-deez), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (Spanish: Cordillera de los Andes; Quechua: Anti) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America.