Hot and Dry Climate

a) Regional Distribution

The adjoining world desert map represents the worldwide distribution of hot and temperate deserts.

A desert despite being a vast land area that is extremely dry with little or no vegetation, nevertheless comprises one of the major ecosystems on this planet and supports a range of plant and animal species that are attuned to survive in the harsh conditions.

Although some definitions of desert also includes areas which are too cold to support any vegetation such as frigid deserts, the world desert map however, shows the distribution of only those areas that are conventionally termed hot and temperate deserts.

Some of the most important deserts in the world are as follows:

Sahara Desert : The largest desert in the world, the Sahara occupies an area of 8,600,000 square km and comprises almost the whole of North Africa. The Sahara is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean; on the north by the Atlas range of mountains and the Mediterranean; on the east by the Red Sea; and on the south by a vast zone of unmoving sand dunes.

Arabian Desert : Occupying almost the whole of the Arabian Peninsula and covering an area of about 2, 300, 000 square km, most of the area of this desert is comprised by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To its southwest is Yemen; Oman on its eastern edge; Jordan in the northwest; and the United Arab Emirates and Qatar forms its northern limit along the southern coastline of the Persian Gulf.

Great Sandy Desert : A vast wasteland in northern Western Australia, the Great Sandy desert extends from Eighty Mile Beach on the Indian Ocean eastward into Northern Territory and from Kimberly Downs southward to the Tropic of Capricorn and the Gibson desert.

Thar Desert : Occupying about 200,000 square km, the Thar Desert is a vast tract of sand hills covering the India state of Rajasthan and parts of Pakistan. The barrenness of the area is mainly attributed to the dryness of the seasonal monsoon winds which do not bring enough rain to make the region moist and wet.

Simpson Desert : Occupying about 143,000 square km, the Simpson Desert in a largely uninhabited barren area in Central Australia on the southeastern corner of the Northern Territory and including parts of Queensland and South Australia. The desert is famous for its national parks and protected areas that are home to some of Australia's rare desert wildlife.

Takla Makan Desert : A great desert of Central Asia and one of the world's largest sandy deserts, the Takla Makan covers an area of about 320,000 square km in China's Xinjiang province.

Gobi Desert : Another of Central Asia's great deserts, the Gobi is actually not much a sandy desert but a vast stretch of arid land comprising mostly bare rocks that occupy about 1,300,000 square km in Mongolia and China.

Sonoran Desert : An arid region in North America, the Sonoran Desert occupies an area of 310, 800 square km and comprises of southwestern Arizona and southeastern California in the United States; the Mexican state of Baja California; and the western part of the Mexican state of Sonora.

Kalahari Desert : Occupying about 930,000 square km, the Kalahari comprises the whole of Botswana; the northern part of Northern Cape Province in South Africa; the eastern part of Namibia; and in the southwest merges with the Namib Desert.

Atacama Desert : The Atacama Desert is a 1,000 to 1,100 km long cool and arid coastal strip in northern Chile, which extends southward to border on Peru.