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Tropical deserts are located in regions between 15 and 30 degrees latitude. The environment is very extreme, and they have the highest average monthly temperature on Earth. Rainfall is sporadic; precipitation may not be observed at all in a few years. In addition to these extreme environmental and climate conditions, most tropical deserts are ...
The northern one is called the Tropic of Cancer, and the southern is the Tropic of Capricorn. As the Earth's axial tilt changes, [a] so too do the tropical and polar circles. The tropics constitute 39.8% of Earth's surface area [1] and contain 36% of Earth's landmass. [2]
Monsoon deserts are similar. They occur in regions where large temperature differences occur between sea and land. Moist warm air rises over the land, deposits its water content and circulates back to sea. Further inland, areas receive very little precipitation. The Thar Desert near the India/Pakistan border is of this type. [36]
Ancient dry riverbeds—called omuramba—traverse the central northern reaches of the Kalahari and provide standing pools of water during the rainy season. A semi-desert, with huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains, the Kalahari supports more animals and plants than a true desert, such as the Namib Desert to the west. There is ...
The tropics have been historically defined as lying between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes 23°26′09.7″ (or 23.43604°) north and south, respectively. [1] According to the American Meteorological Society, the poleward fringe of the subtropics is at latitudes approximately 35° north and south, respectively. [2]
(CNN) — Striking images from the Sahara Desert show large lakes etched into rolling sand dunes after one of the most arid, barren places in the world was hit with its first floods in decades ...
The Sonoran Desert is clearly distinct from nearby deserts (e.g., the Great Basin, Mojave, and Chihuahuan deserts) because it provides subtropical warmth in winter and two seasons of rainfall (in contrast, for example, to the Mojave's dry summers and cold winters). This creates an extreme contrast between aridity and moisture. [4]
The Nama Karoo of Namibia has the world's richest desert fauna. [8] The Chihuahuan desert and Central Mexican matorral are the richest deserts in the Neotropics. [9] The Carnarvon xeric shrublands of Australia are a regional center for endemism. [1] The Sonoran and Baja deserts of Mexico are unusual desert communities dominated by giant ...