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Typical deserts are indicated by the hyper-arid category (light yellow). [1] Desertification is a type of gradual land degradation of fertile land into arid desert due to a combination of natural processes and human activities. The immediate cause of desertification is the loss of most vegetation.
For instance, it might be difficult to tell if desertification or desert expansion is the result of climate change or human activity. [19] Desertification in Africa is exacerbated by human factors such as deforestation, overgrazing, and unsustainable farming methods such as monoculture and excessive use of chemical fertilizers.
Human activities lead to 25% of the airborne dust (particulates) load in the atmosphere [1]. The Sahara Desert is the major source of mineral dust [2], which subsequently spreads across the Mediterranean (where it is the origin of rain dust) and Caribbean seas into northern South America, Central America, and eastern North America, and Europe.
Humans inhabit hot climates, both dry and humid, and have done so for millions of years. Selective use of clothing and technological inventions such as air conditioning allows humans to live in hot climates. One example is the Chaamba, who live in the Sahara Desert. They wear clothing that traps air in between skin and the clothes, preventing ...
Cold deserts, sometimes known as temperate deserts, occur at higher latitudes than hot deserts, and the aridity is caused by the dryness of the air. Some cold deserts are far from the ocean and others are separated by mountain ranges from the sea, and in both cases, there is insufficient moisture in the air to cause much precipitation.
A hot desert climate tends to have two seasons: a long, hot summer and a shorter, mild winter. Phoenix has four months (June-September) when the historical average high temperature is 100 degrees ...
The Sahara is the largest source of aeolian dust in the world, with annual production rates of about 400-700 x 10 6 tons/year, which is almost half of all aeolian desert inputs to the ocean. [2] Saharan dust is often produced by natural process such as wind storms and doesn't appear to be heavily impacted by human activities. [3]
The average annual precipitation in low latitude deserts is less than 250 mm. Relative humidity is very low – only 10% to 30% in interior locations, and even the dewpoints are typically very low, often being well below the freezing mark. Some deserts do not have rainfall all year round, they are located far from the ocean.