Largest desert in the world

ADVERTISEMENT What is a Desert? A desert is a landscape or region that receives very little precipitation - less than 250 mm per year (about ten inches). Approximately 1/3 of Earth's land surface is a desert. There are four different types of deserts based upon their geographic situation: 1) polar deserts, 2) subtropical deserts, 3) cold winter deserts, and 4) cool coastal deserts. As shown on the map above, deserts occur on all of Earth's continents. The Largest Desert The two largest deserts on Earth are in the polar areas. The Antarctic Polar Desert covers the continent of Antarctica and has a size of about 5.5 million square miles. The second-largest desert is the Arctic Polar Desert. It extends over parts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. It has a surface area of about 5.4 million square miles. McMurdo Dry Valleys: The largest deserts on Earth are in the polar regions. This is one of the McMurdo "dry valleys" near Lake Hoare, Antarctica. The Canada Glacier is in the background. Photograph by Peter West, National Science Foundation. Non-Polar Deserts The rest of Earth's deserts are outside of the polar areas. The largest is the Sahara Desert, a subtropical desert in northern Africa. It covers a surface area of about 3.5 million square miles. A list of more than twenty of the largest non-polar deserts can be found below. Vegetation of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona: Cacti and grasses in Arizona's Sonoran Desert. Photo copyright i...

Why subscribe? • The ultimate action-packed science and technology magazine bursting with exciting information about the universe • Subscribe today and save an extra 5% with checkout code 'LOVE5' • Engaging articles, amazing illustrations & exclusive interviews • Issues delivered straight to your door or device The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world and the third-largest desert overall, behind the cold deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic. The Sahara is one of the harshest environments on Earth, covering 3.6 million square miles (9.4 million square kilometers), an area about the size of the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii) and spanning nearly a third of the African continent. The name of the desert comes from the Arabic word ṣaḥrāʾ, which means "desert," according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. What's the geography of the Sahara? The Sahara is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Red Sea to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Sahel savanna to the south. The enormous desert spans 10 countries (Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia) as well as the territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that was annexed by Morocco in 1975, though control of the region is disputed by the Indigenous Saharawi people, the BBC reported in 2021. The Sahara desert has a variety of land features, but it is most famous for the sand dune fields that are often depicted in movies. The dunes can rea...

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This statistic displays the ten largest deserts on earth. 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. Desert (Type) Surface area in million square miles Antarctic (polar) 5.5 Arctic (polar) 5.4 Sahara (subtrpical) 3.5 Arabian (subtropical) 1 Gobi (cold winter) 0.5 Patagonian (cold winter) 0.26 Great Victoria (subtropical) 0.25 Kalahari (subtropical) 0.22 Great Basin (cold winter) 0.19 Syrian (subtropical) 0.19 The most important statistics • Largest countries in the world by area • World's largest deserts • Total global forest area projection • Global change in forest area 1990-2015, by region • Forest area worldwide 2005-2020, by continent • Ten countries with most forest area 2020 • Deforested area in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil 2000-2021 The most important statistics • The ten largest lakes in the world • Deepest lakes in the world • Great Lakes' retention/replacement time • Great Lakes's water surface area • African Great Lakes - area 2016 • World's largest rivers based on drainage area • Rivers of the earth • Canada's longest rivers based on length The most important statistics • Global elevation spans by select country • Cities with the highest altitudes in the world • Lowest human-made and natural points in the world • Lowest ...

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For most people, the word “desert” summons images of dry sand dunes, cacti and snakes. In television and movies, characters typically become sweaty, starved and parched when they’re stuck in the desert. These characters often encounter a “ But this is the desert of Looney Tunes and the Indiana Jones movies. The largest desert in the world actually doesn’t look anything like those depictions. There are What is the largest desert in the world? The All the way at the Earth’s other pole is another landmass of tundra, the world’s second largest desert. The Arctic Desert boasts a measurement of approximately 5.37 million square miles, according to the CIA. What’s the world’s tallest mountain?: Do people live in Antarctica? What is the largest hot desert? The Sahara Desert is the largest non-polar desert in the world, with an area of about 3.55 million square miles, according to the CIA. Extreme weather:

Instructor: Rochelle Enrera Rochelle has a bachelor's degree in Physics for Teachers from Philippine Normal University-Manila and has completed 30+ units in MS Geology at University of the Philippines-Diliman. She is a licensed teacher and has taught Grade 10 Physics for three years. She has been a science content writer and copywriter for over three years now. What is the largest desert in the world? Antarctica is a polar desert. In fact, the Antarctic Desert is considered the largest desert in the world, with an area of 5,500,000 mi² (14,200,000 km²). Despite its snow and ice coverings, it is regarded as a desert because the mean annual precipitation it receives averages only about 50 mm. Precipitation in this region occurs as tiny ice crystals instead of water due to the sublimation of water vapor caused by a clear, yet intensely cold, atmosphere. Its coastal regions, however, can receive precipitation up to about 400 mm per year, while some areas in the Antarctic Peninsula can receive 5000 mm per year. Figure 2 shows the map of Antarctica surrounded by the Southern Ocean. The Antarctic Ice Sheet is divided by the Transantarctic Mountains into two unequal parts: the East Antarctic and West Antarctic Ice Sheets. The East Antarctic is more extensive, older, and thicker, with its bedrock rising above sea level. On the other hand, most of the underlying bedrock of the West Antarctic is below sea level and its sheet cover is thinner than the East. Figure 2. Map of Antarctica...

The largest deserts in the world are usually thought of as hot, arid places with sandy, dry earth stretching as far as the eye can see. While that’s true for some deserts, a region doesn’t have to be sandy and hot to count as a desert. That’s because precipitation levels, not heat or sand, determine what qualifies as a desert. The world’s largest deserts are spread all over the globe, but their size, appearance, and ecosystems all vary widely. The largest deserts of the world also tend to have difficult living conditions, so they’re sparsely populated in terms of wildlife. In this post, we’ll give an overview of the largest deserts on earth to expand your understanding of what a desert can be. What Is a Desert? Approximately one-third of the Earth’s land surface is desert, which is a waterless, desolate area of land with little or no vegetation, typically one covered with sand. It can be any arid land with long dry seasons to support vegetation and usually has a limited population of people and wildlife. Deserts can be hot, but unlike popular belief, they can also be icy. In fact, the largest desert on Earth is covered in ice. The world’s deserts can be divided into five types according to the causes of their dryness—subtropical, rain shadow, interior, polar, and coastal desert. Desert Wildlife While deserts are some of the most challenging habitats to live in in the world, a vast number of animals live in these arid areas. That’s only possible because these animals have a...

Stocktrek Images / Getty Images The Sahara covers parts of several African nations including Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, and Tunisia. Most of the Sahara Desert is undeveloped and features a varied topography. Most of its landscape has been shaped over time by Most of the water found in the Sahara today is in the form of seasonal or intermittent streams. The only permanent river in the desert is the Nile River that flows from Central Africa to the Mediterranean Sea. Other water in the Sahara is found in underground aquifers and in areas where this water reaches the surface, there are oases and sometimes small towns or settlements like the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt and Ghardaïa in Algeria. Since the amount of water and topography varies based on location, the Sahara Desert is divided into different geographic zones. The center of the desert is considered hyper-arid and has little to no vegetation, while the northern and southern portions have sparse grasslands, desert shrub and sometimes trees in areas with more moisture. In addition to being extremely dry, the Sahara is also one of the hottest regions in the world. The average annual temperature for the desert is 86°F (30°C) but during the hottest months temperatures can exceed 122°F (50°C), with the highest temperature ever recorded at 136°F (58°C) in Aziziyah, Libya. kristianbell / Getty Images Due to the high temperatures and arid conditions of the Sahara Desert, the plant life in ...