Studies Put Atacama Fog Yield at 4.9 Litres per Square Metre a Day
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 16
Studies Put Atacama Fog Yield at 4.9 Litres per Square Metre a Day
1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 16
Summary
A 2025 Alto Hospicio study estimated marine fog could deliver 0.2 to 4.9 litres of water per square metre daily at sites 700 to 1,100 metres above sea level near the city.
That followed a 2024 paper that classified Atacama fog types and their collectable water potential, framing the camanchaca as a mappable water resource rather than an atmospheric oddity.
The findings matter because parts of the Atacama receive just 1 to 3 millimetres of rain a year—or none on record—while coastal towns still depend heavily on trucked-in water and groundwater.
Chile has long tested fog harvesting: Chungungo installed 100 collectors in 1987 for about 300 residents, later reaching roughly 1,000 litres a day and as much as 12,000 litres on the best days.
Beyond water supply, the fog sustains highly localized lichen and plant communities on coastal cliffs, leaving both ecosystems and harvesting plans vulnerable to any climate-driven shift in fog timing or altitude.