ALMA and desert ice

The harsh environment of the Atacama Desert is arid and cold. Rain rarely falls, but sometimes snow comes for a long winter. At an altitude higher than 5000 metres in the Chajnantor Plateau, remnants of the previous winter's snow lays near the antennae of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) as a man looks up in awe at the size of one antenna.