Fiery Fall Color in Southern Chile

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Fiery Fall Color in Southern… Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer Topics All Topics Atmosphere Land Heat & Radiation Life on Earth Human Dimensions Natural Events Oceans Remote Sensing Technology Snow & Ice Water More Content Collections Global Maps World of Change Articles Notes from the Field Blog Earth Matters Blog Blue Marble: Next Generation EO Kids Mission: Biomes About About Us Subscribe 🛜 RSS Contact Us Search Forests in southern Chile are tinged orange in this image acquired by the OLI on Landsat 9 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 glacial lakes typically dominate the Patagonian color palette. But for a short time in the austral autumn, temperate deciduous forests add splashes of warm tones. On April 12, 2026, a break in the clouds allowed the Landsat 9 satellite to capture an image of reddish hillsides in the Magallanes region 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 Nothofagus) that form the foundations 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 leaves displaying yellows and reds when shorter, colder days set in. One of these species, known as the lenga beech (Nothofagus pumilio), occurs from about 36 degrees south latitude down to Tierra del Fuego 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, researchers note. As a subalpine-lovi