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Hot deserts are mainly found around the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn The Tropic of Capricorn is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point on the December solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be directly overhead. Its northern equivalent is the Tropic of Cancer.Tropic of Capricorn
Where are deserts located on the globe?
Hot and dry deserts can be found in North America, Central America, South America, southern Asia, Africa, and Australia. Well-known hot and dry deserts include the Mojave and the Sahara. As the name suggests, these deserts are very hot and very dry. They have two seasons: hot and hotter!
Why are hot deserts located on the tropics?
Because the tropics are largely cloudless they get very hot during the day. There are few clouds to insulate these areas during the night. Therefore, temperatures drop to very low levels overnight.
Why hot deserts are located on the western side of continents?
The trade winds prevail in the lower portion of the earth's atmosphere, in the lower section of the troposphere. These winds become dry when they reach the western sides of the continents, and hence don't bring any rain with them. As these regions become devoid of moisture, deserts are formed.
Why are there deserts on Earth?
Deserts are formed by weathering processes as large variations in temperature between day and night put strains on the rocks, which consequently break in pieces. Although rain seldom occurs in deserts, there are occasional downpours that can result in flash floods.
What is a hot desert environment?
A hot desert is a part of the world that has high average temperatures and very low precipitation. These areas need to have less than 250mm of rainfall per year to be classified as a desert.
Why are major deserts hot in the Northern Hemisphere?
The hot deserts lie along the Horse Latitudes or the Sub-Tropical High Pressure Belts where the air is descending, a condition least favorable for precipitation of any kind to take place. The rain-bearing Trade Winds blow off-shore and the Westerlies that are on-shore blow outside the desert limits.
Why many of the world's deserts are located in the region known as the subtropics?
Subtropical deserts are caused by the circulation patterns of air masses. They are found along the Tropic of Cancer, between 15 and 30 degrees north of the Equator, or along the Tropic of Capricorn, between 15 and 30 degrees south of the Equator. Hot, moist air rises into the atmosphere near the Equator.
Why have deserts developed in the south western part of North America?
Answer: During the Paleocene, some time after the dinosaurs' extinction, most of North America (including Alaska) was covered in evergreen tropical rain forests. But after some time, due to a heavy decline in precipitations, these jungles were replaced by dry deciduous forests as well as arid grasslands.
Why are most deserts found in subtropical regions?
Most of the deserts are located in the western margin of continents in subtropics due to the fact that the winds are easterly. Therefore, the eastern margins receive more precipitation and moisture. The western margins are comparatively dry and thus deserts are concentrated in these regions.
Why most of the world's deserts are located in the subtropics?
Most of the world's deserts are located in the western margins of continents in the subtropics because the prevailing winds in the tropics are tropical easterly winds. The tropical easterly winds become dry by the time they reach the western margins of the continents and so they bring no rainfall.
Where are tropical deserts located Class 7?
Tropical deserts are located in both continental interiors and coastal areas between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn.
Are deserts located near the equator?
(Deserts do not occur near the Equator, tropics occur there). Higher in the atmosphere, the now cold, dry air rises and moves away from the equator. At about 30 degree latitudes in both hemispheres (north and south), the air descends.
Why are deserts hot?
The hot deserts are located on the western sides of continents because those coasts are washed by cold ocean currents. as onshore winds blow over the cold ocean currents are cooled down drop the moisture they have in the ocean and as the winds reach the land they are dry with no moisture. This is the case of the Sahara desert in North Africa which is adjacent to the cold canary current, the Kalahari desert in south-west Africa which is next to the cold Agulhas current, Californian desert in the USA next to the cold Californian current and the Atacama desert adjacent to the cold Peruvian desert
What is a desert?
Deserts: A region which has less than 25cm of annual rainfall.
How are deserts formed?
This is an inaccurate observation. Deserts are usually formed by the rain shadow effect caused by mountains. “Hot” deserts depends on different factors such as proximity to the equator, elevation, precipation, etc. Antarctica is a desert, a very cold, dry desert with little precipitation but enough over thousands of years to accumulate snow and ice. The Atacama desert is more a less a cold desert because of altitude as would deserts in Mongolia, which is also further from the equator. The most famous ‘hot’ desert is the Sahara, it’s not on the east or west side of an continent but covers the e
What is the orographic barrier in the Atacama Desert?
Orographic barrier : In case of Atacama desert it is the presence of Andes and not distance from the sea. Similarly in case of Ladakh in India it is the presence of high mountains surrounding it that makes it a desert. Additionally there is the effect of cold currents in case of Atacama desert thus making it one of the driest regions of the world.
Why is there an upwelling in the Indian Ocean?
Due to the prevailing winds and the ocean currents, there develops an upwelling in the Western Indian Ocean boundary along the Somali Coast. This is a rare phenomenon as upwelling everywhere else occurs in the eastern ocean boundaries.
Which deserts act as orographic barriers?
Presence of orographic/mountain barrier : In case of hot deserts like the Mojave desert (USA) where the Rockies and the Thar desert (India) where the Aravallis act as orographic barrier to the rain bearing winds.
What is the effect of the onshore winds that should have blown over Eastern Africa?
Most of the onshore winds that should have blown over Eastern Africa get diverted to the low pressure belts of the monsoon system thereby decreasing the rainfall.
What is desert in the world?
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and consequently living conditions are hostile to plant and animal life . In other words, it is extremely dry area of land with sparse vegetation. In this article, we have discussed about the factors responsible for why world’s tropical deserts located on the Western margins of continents, which is very useful for the competitive examinations like UPSC-prelims, SSC, State Services, NDA, CDS, and Railways etc.
Why are tropical deserts located on the Western margins of continents?
Let us know why most of the world’s tropical deserts located on the Western margins of continents? There are four major factors responsible for the location of the world's tropical desert on the Western margins of continents: 1. Offshore areas of trade wind and falling under the rain shadow area: When the moisture laden trade wind flows ...
What are the regions of descending air?
2. Anticyclonic conditions: The areas between 20 ° -30 ° latitude on western margins of continents are the regions of descending air. Because of this, the air gets compressed and warm as it descends and thus the moisture keeps decreasing.
What is desert landscape?
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and consequently living conditions are hostile to plant and animal life. In other words, it is extremely dry area of land with sparse vegetation. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to the processes of denudation ...
Why does moisture holding winds pass away from the region?
Therefore the moisture holding winds pass away from the region because there is absence of mountain barriers. 4. Presence of cold ocean currents along the western coast of continents tends to stabilise the air over the coast. This prevents cloud formation and rainfall. Hence, it leads to arid conditions or the formation ...
What are the four types of deserts?
There are four types of desert found in the world: sub-tropical desert; Coastal deserts; Cold desert; Polar Desert. The fifth part of the Earth's surface is desert. They are found in Asia, Australia, Africa, North America and South America. Sahara is the world's largest tropical desert (desert). Let us know why most of the world’s tropical deserts ...
What are the two main causes of desert formation?
1. Offshore areas of trade wind and falling under the rain shadow area: When the moisture laden trade wind flows from east to west shed their moisture on the eastern part and by the time they reach the western margin, they become dry. These dry winds make the soil more and this led to the formation of the desert. 2.
How hot is the desert?
Climate of the hot desert. Climate is extremely hot and temperature remains more than 40 degrees for most time of the day. However, the hot desert become cold as the temperature falls below 0 degree. Climate is very dry with negligible humidity. The average rainfall is 250 mm a year.
What is the climate of the desert?
Climate of the hot desert 1 Climate is extremely hot and temperature remains more than 40 degrees for most time of the day. However, the hot desert become cold as the temperature falls below 0 degree. 2 Climate is very dry with negligible humidity. The average rainfall is 250 mm a year.
Why is desertification bad?
Desertification is probably the biggest problem in the desert because it involves land degrading, meaning that it becomes less productive.
What are some examples of ecosystems in the desert?
But, ecosystems in the desert have a lot of different things to content with. For example, the amount of rain that falls in a hot desert is very low. This means that animals have to keep moving to find water, or they have to be adapted to cope with very little water.
What are the factors that contribute to desertification?
One of the key aspects of desertification is soil erosion. This means that soil can easily be removed in layers by gusts of wind and water. This leads to nutrients being lost and soil becoming less productive quickly, making it difficult to grow anything on it.
What is the largest desert in the world?
World’s largest hot desert is Sahara which covers almost the whole continent. With an extreme climate hot deserts have very challenging environment for living beings. You will hardly any kind of vegetation there. Only few plants and animals have adapted to live in this climate.
How can we reduce the risk of desertification?
There are plenty of different things that can be done to reduce the risk of desertification, they include: By planting trees, people can prevent soil erosion. This is because the trees will act as windbreaks and prevent the wind from blowing away the top level of soil.
Why are deserts hot?
This is because solar radiation, bodies of water, the atmosphere, and the geological landscape all play a part in the formation of a desert.
Where are hot deserts located?
These regions exist mainly in the tropics around the Equator, the Tropics of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Tropic of Cancer is the northernmost latitude line at 23.5 degrees from the Equator that can receive direct sunlight at some point in the year (when the Sun is directly overhead at noon). The Tropic of Capricorn is a latitude line 23.5 degrees south of the Equator. The Sun never rises directly overhead in any region outside the tropics. Therefore, the regions between these latitudes are the only regions to receive direct sunlight, which contributes to faster evaporation rates, making these regions abundant with hot deserts. Hot deserts include examples like the Sahara in Africa and the desert land that occupies Arizona in the United States.
Why are polar deserts so cold?
This is because the air gets too cold at the highest latitudes to carry moisture. This, therefore, means there is virtually no precipitation (rain or snow).
Why do deserts have low precipitation?
The latitudes that result in low precipitation circumstances due to direct sunlight or extreme lack of direct sunlight aren't the only circumstances that can create a desert. Hot deserts result from lots of direct sunlight, limiting the number of water bodies far inland and away from oceans. In addition, hot deserts have high temperatures in the summer, which contributes to greater evaporation. The hot temperature also results in strong winds, which contribute to further variation in precipitation. Though these regions have little to no precipitation, they can still experience flash floods due to extremely rare or seasonal storms.
What latitudes are deserts located in?
The latitudes between 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south are geographical regions that receive direct sunlight at some point during the year. These regions may be more likely to produce the arid conditions associated with a desert due to evaporation; therefore, most deserts exist in these regions. However, the most significant desert landscape by square kilometers exists in Antarctica and the Arctic North.
What is the desert?
A desert is a geographical location that receives little precipitation (22 cm per year) and provides harsh, specialized conditions for organisms living there. The lack of precipitation results in a particularly arid climate with little vegetation to help protect the ground and surface from weathering and erosion. The lack of vegetation means limited food sources for animals that live in the desert. Overall, deserts tend to have the smallest populations of organisms and the least amount of biodiversity. Additionally, the plant and animal life that thrive in desert regions has specific adaptations to that climate. Now, what regions on Earth produce these circumstances? What are some desert locations?
How does desert formation occur?
Desert formation can occur through varying contributing factors as long as they result in an arid or dry climate. This all depends on the interactions between the hydrosphere (i.e., water systems on Earth), geosphere (i.e., the landscape and geography), the atmosphere (e.g., global patterns in air circulation), and even the biosphere (e.g., how lack of vegetation contributes to further aridity).
