Atacama Desert bursts into bloom after record rains, creating one of Chile's most spectacular flower seasons

Spring has arrived in the Southern Hemisphere, bringing an unlikely transformation to one of the world's driest places: Chile's Atacama Desert is bursting into bloom.

The normally rocky, brown landscape has been covered by millions of wildflowers after unusually heavy rains earlier this year triggered the sprouting of seeds and bulbs that had remained dormant, in some cases, for decades.

Known as the driest nonpolar desert on Earth, the Atacama stretches about 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) along northern Chile between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains.

Although flowers appear in the desert during some winter-to-spring transitions, this year's Desierto Florido, or "flowering desert", is expected to be unusually large and intense.

"It is a unique phenomenon; there are more than 200 plant species," said Jorge Carabantes, head of the Protected Areas Department at Chile's National Forest Corporation, or CONAF.

"This is a flowering event that is obviously extraordinary and unusual, very different from other blooms that occur elsewhere on the globe," he told The Associated Press.

The transformation followed record rainfall between July and August, when several regions of Chile recorded levels not seen since measurements began in the 1950s.

Biologist César Pizarro, head of CONAF Atacama's Biodiversity Conservation Section, said some areas received between 160 and 190 millimetres (6 to 7 inches) of rain.

"What has happened now has an origin, and it is called super El Nino," Pizarro said, referring to the weather phenomenon cited by officials as the driver of the exceptional rainfall.

The storms brought flooding and destruction to parts of Chile, but in the country's north they also provided the moisture needed to activate what scientists call desert germplasm.

The material includes seeds, bulbs and tubers, as well as eggs of some invertebrates and reptiles, allowing the desert's biological life to remain dormant until conditions become favourable.

This year's bloom is estimated to cover about 17,000 square kilometres (6,560 square miles), an area roughly comparable to the Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile's largest and most populous region.

CONAF projections indicate it could be the most intense and extensive Desierto Florido since 1997.

More than 200 species of plants and flowers have emerged in different colours and forms. Red and yellow nanucas, purple rock purslane, white suspiros, orange terciopelos and the native garra de leon have transformed hills, plains and ravines.

For some areas, the flowers have brought back a sight not seen for generations.

"There are hills and mountain ranges where no greenery or flowers had been seen for more than 30 or 40 years," Pizarro said.

He said the dormant material can survive for many years, even decades, before rain triggers another bloom.

The phenomenon is also drawing visitors to remote parts of the desert.

Felix Banda, 51, who was born in Chile but has lived his whole life in Australia, said he had expected to see a largely brown landscape during his first visit.

"I knew that it had rained a lot, so I was expecting to see some beautiful greenery, but this is an incredible landscape," he said.

According to figures provided to AP by Chile's National Tourism Secretariat, the Atacama region is expected to record nearly 300,000 overnight trips by the time the flowering season ends in November.

For tourists, the rare burst of colour offers a striking contrast to the desert's usual austerity.

Chef Franco Moya, 37, and his girlfriend travelled nearly 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from Santa Cruz in central Chile's Colchagua Valley to visit several parts of the desert for his birthday.

"It was striking to see how the flowers grow in such a dry place," Moya said. "It's my first time here ... and it was a truly surprising moment."