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Desert Climate

Desert Climate, the hot desert is also known as the Trade Wind Desert because the dryness of this desert is caused due to off-shore trade winds. ....

Desert Climate, the hot desert is also known as the Trade Wind Desert because the dryness of this desert is caused due to off-shore trade winds.

Some of the biggest hot deserts in the world are the Sahara Desert, Iranian Desert, Arabian Desert, Namib Desert, Thar Desert and the Great Australian Desert.

These are located in between latitudes 15 degrees and 30 degrees north and south, usually on the western coastal regions of the continents. 

Hot Desert Climate
  • The aridity of the hot deserts is mainly due to the effects of off-shore Trade Winds, hence they are also called Trade Wind Deserts.
  • The major hot deserts of the world are located on the western coasts of continents between latitudes 15° and 30°N. and S
  • They include the biggest Sahara Desert, Great Australian Desert, Arabian Desert, Iranian Desert, Thar Desert, Kalahari and Namib Deserts.
  • In North America, the desert extends from Mexico into U.S.A. and is called by different names at different places e.g. the Mohave, Sonoran,
    Californian
    and Mexican Deserts.
  • In South America, the Atacama or Peruvian Desert (rain shadow effect and off-shore trade winds) is the driest of all deserts with less than 2 cm of rainfall annually.
Mid-Latitude Desert Climate
  • The temperate deserts are rainless because of either continentiality or rain-shadow effect. [Gobi desert is form due to continentiality and Patagonian desert due to rain-shadoweffect]
  • Among the mid-latitude deserts, many are found on plateau and are at a considerable distance from the sea.
  • These are Ladakh, The Kyzyl Kum, Turkestan, Taklimakan and Gobi deserts of Central Asia, drier portions of the Great Basin Desert of
    the western United States and Patagonian Deserts of Argentina etc..
  • The Patagonian Desert is more due to its rain-shadow position on the leeward side of the lofty Andes than to continentiality.
Desert Climate
  • Rainfall (Both Hot and Cold deserts)
  • Deserts, whether hot or mid-latitude have an annual precipitation of less than 25 cm.
  • Atacama (driest place on earth) has practically no rain at all.
  • Rain normally occurs as violent thunderstorms of the convectional type.
  • It ‘bursts’ suddenly and pours continuously for a few hours over small areas.
Temperature of Hot deserts
  • There is no cold season in the hot deserts and the average summer temperature is high around 30°C.
  • The highest temperature recorded is 57.77° C in 1922 at A1 Azizia, Libya.
Desert Vegetation
  • The predominant vegetation of both hot and mid-latitude deserts is xerophytic or drought-resistant.
  • This includes the cacti, thorny bushes, long-rooted wiry grasses and scattered dwarf acacias.
  • Trees are rare except where there is abundant ground water to support clusters of date palms.
  • Along the western coastal deserts washed by cold currents as in the Atacama Desert, support a thin cover of vegetation..
  • Most desert shrubs have long roots and are well space out to gathe rmoisture, and search for ground water. Plants have few or no leaves and the foliage is either waxy, leathery, hairy or needle-shaped to reduce the loss of water through transpiration.

Also Read : Savanna Climate

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