What are deserts?
They are barren land unfit for many plants, animals and other life forms where very little precipitation occurs.
Do all deserts have very hot weather?
No deserts can be hot or cold the polar regions are considered deserts also.
How much of the earth is considered deserts?
1/5 or 20% of the earth surface is considered to be desert.
How much rainfall or precipitation is there to be called a desert?
If an area of land has 25 centimeters of rain or precipitation or less it is called a desert.
1-ANTARCTIC DESERT
A-The Antarctic desert is located in the south pole it is the windiest, driest and coldest place on earth.
B-The desert is14,244,935 square kilometers and has the highest elevation average of any other place on earth.
C-70% of all the freshwater in the world is frozen in the Antarctic ice pack, the ice is more than 4 kilometers thick in most places.
D-There are no countries in the Antarctic desert it is managed by international law and it has no permanent residents that live there.
E-The size of the Antarctic polar desert is larger the Europe it is the world most southern point.
2-THE ARCTIC DESERT
A-The desert is the most northern point in the world it is 13,985,936 square meters in size.
B- The polar desert is very susceptible to change from climate change. The ice is melting extremely fast with global warming in the past few years.
C-The Arctic Desert has a population of 4,000,000 people, many forms of animals and plants.
D-The ice in the Arctic contains about 10% of all the freshwater on earth.
E-There are many earth minerals plus oil and gas in the Arctic there are 8 countries that manage the Arctic.
3-THE SAHARA DESERT
A-The Sahara Desert is the largest hot desert it is the 3rd largest desert it is 9,200,000 square kilometers.
B-The desert is entirely located on the continent of Africa and the temperature changes fro 38 degree celsius to -4 degrees celsius.
C. To compare the size of the desert is close to the same size as the USA or China.
D-The desert at one time was a lush area with many plants and animals but today only 2.5 million people live in the desert..
E-The desert is about 7 million years old and is getting larger spreading very fast.
4-THE ARABIAN DESERT
A-The desert is 2,300,000 square kilometers it has many mountains it covers almost all the Arabian Peninsula.
B-The desert is divided by 8 countries Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen.
C-Oil was first discovered in the desert in 1936.
D-There are only 37 different types of plants that have been found there.
E-Many insects. birds, animals and people live in the desert.
5-THE GOBI DESERT
A-The desert is located in Mongolia and China it is different from many desert as there many areas with no sand only bare rocks.
B-It has many sand dunes that cover 5% of its total area due to the fact the winds blow that creates area of bare rock and sand piles.
C-Dinosaurs remains have been discovered in the desert.
D-It is 1,295,000 square kilometers and it has many important minerals.
E-In general the desert is very hospitable for many forms of life.
6-THE KALAHARI DESERT
A-The desert covers 900,000 is classified a semi desert and has many kinds of life living in the desert.
B-It is located in the southern part of the African continent in South Africa, Nambia and Botswana.
C-Only 1 permanent river runs through the desert it is the Okavango river.
D-The desert is 60,000,000 years old and formed the Africa became a continent.
E-The dry season is about 8 months but it can rain there other 1-4 months.
7-THE GREAT VICTORIA DESERT
A-The desert is located on the continent of Australia it is the largest desert in Australia.
B-The desert has red sand dunes, stony plains and dry salt lakes.
C-It has 9 distinctive landscape making it a very interesting and beautiful desert.
D-It has been declared a World Biosphere Reserve to preserve it uniqueness.
E-There is many types of flora and fauna that call the desert home.
8-THE PATAGONIAN DESERT
A-The Patagonian Desert sit between the Andes Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean in South American mostly in Argentina and a part of Chile.
B It is a cold desert as the average temperature annually is 3 degrees celsius.
C-It is 673,000 square kilometers in size.
D-The desert was formed by a ” rain shadow ” this means the mountain range prevents rain from reaching the area.
E-There are many types of birds, plants and animals that live in the desert.
9-TH SYRIAN DESERT
A-The Syrian desert is a very different desert as it contains a true desert, semi-arid landscape and steppe.
B-The desert is 500,000 square kilometers and is in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Jordan.
C-The desert average annual temperature is 18 degrees celsius making it more comfortable the many other deserts as the nights are cooler.
D-There have been many wars fought in the Syrian Desert.
E-Most of the animals that live in desert are active at night when it is cooler and in the daytime when the temperatures are hot they rest.
10-THE GREAT BASIN DESERT
A-The Great Basin Desert is in the United States of America it is not a single basin but includes many basins.
B-It is not always hot and very interestingly it can snow on any day of the year.
C-With the many elevation changes it is a diverse ecosystem with many different things to see.
D-It has many of the oldest trees in the entire world.
E-The basin has some the darkest nights in the world and it is a famous spot for people who enjoy astronomy you can see 5 plants and thousands of stars with the naked eye.