The nets are easily maintained and affordable, its backers say.
Credit: Fellipe Abreu

CHILE — The dry, red earth could almost be mistaken for a Martian landscape.

It is in fact the Atacama desert in Chile, one of the driest places on Earth.

Average rainfall here is les than 0.1mm (0.004 in) per year and there are many regions which have not seen any precipitation for decades.

But while there is little rain, the clouds here do carry humidity.

Coastal fog forms on Chile’s shore and then moves inland in the form of cloud banks. The locals call it “camanchaca”.

The fog is made up of minuscule drops of water which are so light they do not fall as rain.

During a particularly severe drought in 1956, scientist Carlos Espinosa Arancibia had an idea.

The retired maths and physics professor from the University of Chile carried out a series of experiments in the highest hills near the city of Antofagasta.

There, […]