[NASA] Fiery Fall Color in Southern Chile

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3. Fiery Fall Color in Southern…

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Forests in southern Chile are tinged orange in this image acquired by the

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on

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on April 12, 2026.

NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin

The bright whites of mountain snow, muted browns of the arid plains, and gem-like blues and teals of

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typically dominate the Patagonian color palette. But for a short time in the austral autumn,

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add splashes of warm tones. On April 12, 2026, a break in the clouds allowed the

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satellite to capture an image of reddish hillsides in the

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of southern Chile.

Patagonia contains the southernmost temperate forests in the world, home to many species found nowhere else on the planet. Among these are several types of southern beech tree (genus

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) that form the

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of Andean forests. These highly adaptable trees can thrive in a range of climates, tolerating freezing temperatures and almost desert-like levels of rainfall.

The deciduous varieties put on a show in the fall, their

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yellows and reds when shorter, colder days set in. One of these species, known as the lenga beech (Nothofagus pumilio),

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from about 36 degrees south latitude down to

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at around 55 degrees south. Its range stretches about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) along the spine of the continent and includes the area shown in this image.

Where lenga beeches grow, they tend to be the predominant or only type of tree in the forest,

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. As a

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-loving species, their presence often marks the highest elevation that trees will grow in an area. In the warmer, northern part of their range, they occur at higher elevations—around 1,700 meters (5,600 feet). In cooler, southern climes, they populate lower areas; the red ridgetops in the scene above, located about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Punta Arenas, are at about

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(2,000 feet) above sea level.

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A band of reddish vegetation covers the slopes of a snow-capped mountain about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of the area shown at the top of the page. The image was acquired by the

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on

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on April 12, 2026.

NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin

Colorful autumn displays of lenga and other southern beech forests dazzle leaf-peepers across Patagonia’s iconic locales. In

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, reds and yellows appear amid the clear lakes and volcanic peaks. And in

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and Tierra del Fuego, trees such as

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, better known as ñire or “Antarctic fire,” lend touches of blazing color to the landscape.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the 

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. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

Downloads

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April 12, 2026

JPEG (4.68 MB)

References & Resources

• Amigo, J., and Rodríguez Guitián, M. (2011)
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  . International Journal of Geobotanical Research, 1, 1-20.
• Mattera, M.G., et al. (2020) 
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  . Scientific Reports, 10, 19231.
• ScienceDirect,
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  . Accessed April 27, 2026.
• Steed-Mundin, O. (2024)
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  . Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, 41(4), 439–456.

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