8/25/2023 0 Comments Coastal flats carry out![]() Antarctica also is the windiest continent and home to one of the driest places on Earth - the McMurdo Dry valleys. This frigid wasteland dominates the South Pole with a massive surface area of 5.5 million square miles ( 14.2 million square kilometers). Tarpan/ShutterstockĪntarctica is the largest continent, as well as the largest desert in the world. Many researchers agree that this trend will continue until humans dramatically reduce emissions and other forms of atmospheric pollution.Īntarctica is home to the largest desert in the world, the Antarctic Polar Desert. A 2018 study from the National Science Foundation found that the desert has grown 10 percent since 1920. Still, interior sand seas making up most of the core land mass rarely receive more than a quarter-inch of annual rain.Īmazingly enough, the Sahara continues to grow larger. Near these coastal systems, the Sahara may experience between 4 and 10 inches (10 and 25 centimeters) of precipitation per year. The Western Sahara expands to the Atlantic Ocean, while it also completely dominates the northern part of Africa, stretching north from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The Sahara is the largest hot desert and the third-largest desert in the world, spanning 3.5 million square miles (9.1 million square kilometers) of arid, wind-swept landscapes. When you think of a desert with rolling sand dunes, camels and an occasional oasis, you're probably picturing the iconic Sahara of Northern Africa. The Sahara Desert is the largest hot desert, and the third-largest desert in the world. As a result, the Gobi Desert played a crucial role in exchanging goods, ideas and cultures between different civilizations, including the Han Chinese, Mongols, Persians and Europeans. Genghis Khan established his Mongol Empire here, and several Silk Road trading routes have passed through here since 130 B.C.E., connecting China with Central Asia and the Mediterranean region. The Gobi Desert also one of the most historically important deserts on our list. Temperatures don't get as cold here as they do in the arctic tundra, but wind chill from Siberia can drop temperatures to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees Celsius). This vast rain shadow desert is sandwiched between the towering peaks of the Himalayas and the frigid steppes of Siberia it's an extremely cold desert with little vegetation or precipitation apart from ice and snowstorms. The massive Gobi Desert is the fifth-largest desert in the world at 500,000 square miles (1.3 million square kilometers). Nomadic herders have lived in the Gobi Desert for thousands of years. For example, the famous bristlecone pine, known as the " Prometheus Tree," was between 4,700 and 5,000 years old when it was cut in 1965. The 10th-largest desert in the world is also an important area for anthropology and natural history, with various remnants of Native American habitation for thousands of years and some of the oldest plant life on the planet. The Great Basin Desert is characterized by large groves of sagebrush, salt flats and dry lake beds and is home to various unique plant and animal species adapted to the desert environment. Its high elevation (9,000 feet or more above sea level), rugged terrain and scarce water resources make it one of the most desolate places in the country, with much of the area receiving less than 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) of rainfall per year. ![]() The Great Basin Desert is a vast, arid region in the western United States, covering 190,000 square miles (492,000 square kilometers) of Nevada, Utah, California, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming. The Great Basin spans across six states in the United States, and its high elevation makes it cold and desolate.
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