One thing all deserts have in common is that they are arid, or dry. Most experts agree that a desert is an area of land that receives no more than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of precipitation a year . The amount of evaporation in a desert often greatly exceeds the annual rainfall.
What are the requirements for a desert?
In geography, a desert is a landscape form or region that receives very little precipitation. Generally deserts are defined as areas that receive an average annual precipitation of less than 250 mm (10 inches) . The terminology used to define deserts is complex.
What are 3 characteristics of a desert?
- Aridity: It is one and common characteristic of all deserts throughout most or all of the year. ...
- Extremes of temperature: ...
- Humidity: ...
- Precipitation: ...
- Drought: ...
- High wind velocity.
- Sparsity of cloud cover.
- Absence of water vapour in air.
What are the 4 types of deserts?
The four main types of desert include hot and dry deserts, semi-arid deserts, coastal deserts, and cold deserts .
What defines a desert climate?
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification BWh and BWk), is a climate which there is an excess of evaporation over precipitation . The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert climates hold little moisture and evaporate the little rainfall they receive.
What is largest hot desert in the world?
The Sahara Desert is the world's largest hot desert and the third largest desert behind Antarctica and the Arctic. Located in North Africa, it covers large sections of the continent – covering 9,200,000 square kilometers which is comparable to the are of China or the US!
What is the biggest desert in the world?
The largest desert on earth is the Antarctic desert , covering the continent of Antarctica with a size of around 5.5 million square miles. The term desert includes polar deserts, subtropical deserts, cold winter and cool coastal deserts, and are based on their geographical situation.
How do humans live in the desert?
Their traditional lifestyle has adapted to these extremely arid conditions. Their nomadic lifestyle means they do not settle in one area for long. Instead, they move on frequently to prevent exhausting an area of its resources. They have herds of animals which are adapted to living in desert conditions, such as camels.
What animals live in a desert?
Animals that live in deserts include lizards, geckos, toads, jackrabbits, camels, snakes, spiders and meerkats.
Why is it called the desert?
Deserts–stark, sometimes mysterious worlds–have been portrayed as fascinating environments of adventure and exploration from narratives such as that of Lawrence of Arabia to movies such as “Dune.” These arid regions are called deserts because they are dry . They may be hot, they may be cold.
What is the deadliest desert?
The Atacama Desert , South America:
The driest desert of the world, Atacama is surely the most dangerous desert of all.
What causes a desert?
Some deserts are found on the western edges of continents. They are caused by cold ocean currents , which run along the coast. They cool the air and make it harder for the air to hold moisture. ... Some deserts form in the rain shadow of mountains, eg the Atacama Desert is located in the rain shadow of the Andes.
What is it like in the desert?
Deserts are usually very, very dry . Even the wettest deserts get less than ten inches of precipitation a year. In most places, rain falls steadily throughout the year. But in the desert, there may be only a few periods of rains per year with a lot of time between rains.
What are the 5 types of desert?
Others are dry expanses of rock, sand, or salt flats. The world's deserts can be divided into five types— subtropical, coastal, rain shadow, interior, and polar .
What is the most common animal in the desert?
Foxes, spiders, antelopes, elephants and lions are common desert species. Now for the cool animals; the Addax antelope found in the Sahara Desert is one of the most beautiful antelopes in the world.
Why is the desert so hot?
But what makes it so hot in a desert? Deserts occur where there is a lack of moisture and thus an abundance of sunlight . ... With no evaporative cooling and a relative lack of vegetation to use the sunlight, most all of the sunlight goes into warming the ground surface. This causes very hot afternoon temperatures.
