From the air, the mesmerizing tapestry of sandy dunes and lagoons you see here gives Lençóis Maranhenses National Park an otherworldly, desert-like appearance. Located in the sparsely populated northeast corner of Brazil, this park gets far too much annual rainfall—nearly 50 inches—to be considered a desert. In fact, heavy rain is part of what makes this place unique: Nearly 70% of its annual rainfall comes between January and May, filling the park"s nearly 40,000 lagoons to the brim with fresh rainwater. Why doesn"t the water sink into the sand? A layer of impermeable bedrock beneath the dunes prevents that from happening.
White dunes, blue lagoons
Today in History
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Seven Magic Mountains art installation, Jean Dry Lake, Nevada
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Books for children of all ages
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Pascua Florida Day
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Whangārei Falls in New Zealand
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Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java, Indonesia
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Beech trees and wild anemones, Jutland, Denmark
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Sandstone formations in the badlands near Caineville, Utah
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Wildflower bloom, Central Valley, California
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Composite of photographs from the Apollo 15 mission
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Handmade gnomes at a Christmas market
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A winter wonderland in Northeast China
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Keep watching the skies
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‘Ocian in view! O! The joy.’
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Isla del Pescado on the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia
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Horse Head Rock, New South Wales, Australia
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Ponta da Piedade rock formations in Portugal
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White Desert National Park, Egypt
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Astoria-Megler Bridge, Oregon
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Wildlife Conservation Day
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Santorini, Greece
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Nomads of the Gobi
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2024 Toronto International Film Festival
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Bing Wallpaper Gallery

