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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Talk like a pirate—or walk the plank
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Okefenokee Swamp
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Can you see the family resemblance?
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Apple trees in spring, Germany
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Casting a vote for women s history
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Jackie Robinson Day
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Happy 50th for the National Trails System!
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Travels to the Oregon deep
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In memory of those lost
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Cumberland Island National Seashore
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Birds and bees, and why they re so important
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A gentle wind fills this sail
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Puma in Patagonia
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The globe skimmers return
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
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When science looks like magic
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High trekking season in Upper Mustang
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Hooray, hooray, it s Unicorn Day!
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International Day of Friendship
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Paradise, found
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Serra de Tramuntana, Majorca, Spain
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It s only Wednesday
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It’s NASA’s 60th birthday
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Red fox
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A cutting-edge art gallery opens in Paris
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Giving Tuesday
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Celebrating a young girl s age-old discovery