The desert biome is one of the most interesting biomes on earth. An area of land is considered a desert when it produces less than 10 inches of rainfall throughout the year. There are many different types of deserts in the world, with a very diverse group of plants and animals. It has temperatures that are generally hot during the day, and cold at night.
A desert is a region so arid due to little rainfall that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation or no vegetation at all. There are many different types of deserts including Trade wind deserts, Midlatitude deserts, Rain shadow deserts, and many more. The largest trade wind desert is the Sahara desert that is located in North Africa. Dry winds use cloud cover to allow more sunlight to heat the land. The Sahara desert has reached temperatures of 122 degrees Fahrenheit. The Mid Latitude deserts have many interior drainage basins far from oceans and have a wide range of annual temperatures. These deserts are more common in North America.
Deserts cover about a fifth of the Earth’s surface. Also, deserts can be found on every continent. Deserts are a part of a wider classification of regions called drylands. They are found worldwide along two fingers parallel to the equator at 25-35 degrees latitude in the northern and southern hemispheres. Deserts are made up of bare soil and low vegetation. Deserts make up approximately one fifth of the Earth's land surface, which is about 20.9 million square miles ("Basic Facts about Deserts").
There are three reasons for the hot and dry climate in deserts. These are from Hadley cells, rain shadows, and ocean currents. First, Hadley cells are pockets of air named after the meteorologist from Britain who discovered it. In Hadley cel...
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Desert Animals. The Animal Spot, n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
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Rice, Stanly A. "Deserts, Warm." Encyclopedia of Biodiversity. New York: Facts on File, 2012. 175-82. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
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The Sahara desert affected the development of North Africa. The Sahara’s large temperature range and small supply of water can make the region difficult to thrive upon. However, it is not impossible. As stated in document 2, temperatures can reach up to 120 degrees fahrenheit and supplies of water are scant. Journeying through the Sahara was very difficult until the camel was introduced for travel. As stated in document 2, the camel could travel long distances
The Taiga Biome is a large, naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major part of both Siberia and North America. It is usually found at high elevations at more temperate latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the largest terrestrial biome on earth, covering around 50 million acres of land (NP, UC Santa Barbara). It is known for its subarctic climate that ranges between -51 to -1 °C in the winter and -21 to 7 °C in the summer. The two main season found in the taiga are summer and winter as autumn and spring are usually very short and barely noticeable. Winter makes up around six months of the year, with only around 50-100 frost-free days during the summer. Summer is also the season during which the taiga receives the most precipitation in form of rain. The remainder is made up of snow and dew, which adds up to around 30-85cm of precipitation yearly (NP, S.L. Woodward).
The Sahara desert is known as the largest dessert in the world, it covers a third of the continent of Africa. The thing about the desert is that it is always changing, new vegetation is sprouting and animals are dying and being born. During the day the desert is very hot, about 50 degrees Celsius, but at night time temperatures can drop very low. In the night is when the desert rains, for temperatures are too hot during the day for clouds to accumulate above them, and water is limited so there isn’t much precipitation.
Abby: While climates are moist near the mountains and in the north. Usually, the driest is in the central prairies. Strong winds blow across the plains during both summer and winter because of the flat rolling surfaces.
In North China, there is high temperature and low rainfall. High summer temperature is due to continental climate. Also, hot dry winds occasionally blow towards Loess Plateau from Gobi Desert in the north. Summer temperature of Less Plateau is high, e.g. Xian ever reached 42.5℃. High summer temperature causes the high evaporation and lead to dryness. The precipitation reduces. Finally, it causes the expansion of dry areas and drought. Water scarcity becomes worse.
Africa is the second largest of the earth's seven continents, covering about twenty-two percent of the world's total land area. From its northern most point, to its southern most tip is the distance of nearly five thousand miles. Africa is both north and south of the equator. The Atlantic Ocean is located west of the continent, and the Indian Ocean is on the east. Width of the continent is also nearly five thousand miles. Although Africa is so large, much of it is inhabitable. Desert soils, which have little organic content, cover large areas. The Sahara Desert, in the northern part, covers more than one fourth of Africa, and the Kalahari Desert is in the southern part of the continent. These two deserts are a natural detriment to the African continent because they make it difficult to reach the inland where most of the people live. Although Africa is relatively close to Europe, travel by land over the Sahara desert is very prohibitive. Another topographical feature that also isolates the central region of Africa is the coastline.
A drought means there is not enough precipitation. It is a period of unusually dry weather that keeps on long enough to cause environment or economic problems which result in a water shortage and destroy vegetation, animals and crops. Drought can happen even if there is some rainfall. Bushfires and heat waves will occur because of drought. (Francesca.F, 2000)
The climate is very dry as a bone in the north because of the Sahara desert. Then in the middle is semi desert. The south is
The Desert of the Sahara is home to one of the harshest environments. It was given this name because of its weather, droughts, and natural forces like sandstorms which occur often. This is shown in the text when the author states “Rain is too unpredictable in deserts”. Rain leads
Sub-Saharan Africa refers to the diverse landscape of more than 50 countries of Africa, which are south of the Sahara Desert. There are over nine million square miles of valleys, plateaus, and mountains in this region of Africa. Because of the prevalence of plateaus, Africa has been nicknamed the “continent of plateaus”. Between the plateaus, there are steep slopes, or escarpments. This continent has the highest overall elevation because of the plateaus it has. This area is mountainous with such mountains as the Atlas Mountains in the Northwest, Drakensburg Mountains and Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest peak. The Great Rift Valley is also in this region. There are many rivers in this region, including the “Nile, Congo, Niger, and the Zambezi Rivers” (Physical Geography).
1,700 km (1,060 mi long and 100 km (60 mi) wide, the desert is bordered on the
A biome, also known as life zones, consists of all plants, animals, and other organisms, as well the physical environment in a particular area. A biome is characterized by its’ plant life, climate, and location. The climate and physical features determine the boundaries of a biome. A biome is made up of many different ecosystems. The ecosystems tend to have the same pants and animals as neighboring biomes around the boundaries. The major biomes are the tundra, taiga, tropical rain forest, temperate forests, desert, grassland, savanna, chaparral, and marine. Each biome has it’s own characteristics such as the tundra.
People have adapted to living in the Sahara in many ways. Technology has been a huge aid, oasis living has never been that hard, and nomads can nomad. Living in the Sahara has been difficult, but now it’s slightly less difficult, but of course that has caused issues, which have remade it difficult. Let’s get into specifics!
The Sahara’s climate is very hot and dry. Although it is very hot during the day, it does become cold at night. On average, it only has 8 inches of rainfall per year. The Sahara's climate consists of b...