Desert Climate Dry Tropical Climate (BW)

The dry desert is in Kppen's BWh climate category. It is a Low Latitude climate. The Bstands for Dry Desert climates. All months have average temperatures over 64 F (18 C). The Wstands for desert climate. Finally, the hstands for dry and hot, with average annual temperatures over 64 F (18 C). I guess they're trying to tell us its hot, hot out there. The description of this awesome biome climate is quite odd, but also as it is odd, it is also very interesting. Dry Desert climates are formed by high-pressure zones in which cold air descends. Then the descending air becomes warm but, instead of releasing rain, the heat from the ground evaporates the water before it can come down as rain. The ground is super hot because the sun's rays beat down on it directly overhead. Not a lot of atmosphere to protect it from radiant energy. By the way, approximately 1 in. (.25 cm) of rain falls in dry deserts per year. The average annual temperature of these miles of hot sand is 64 F (18 C). The latitude range is 15-28 north and south of the equator. Their global range covers about 1/5 of the earth, including the world's great deserts: Sahara, Sonora, Thar, Kalahari and the Great Australian. Plants of the Dry Desert have adapted to the lack of water by using dew for moisture and taking in water through their leaves and stems. Justin S. 2000

bibliography: Lambert, Wayne. "Desert Land and Climate", World Book Encyclopedia, 1995. Adams, R. "Desert Life" Academic American Encyclopedia, 1995

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Desert Climate Deserts are areas where the rainfall is too low to sustain any vegetation at all, or only very scanty scrub. The rainfall in desert areas is less than 250 mm or 10 inches per year, and some years may experience no rainfall at all. The hot deserts are situated in the subtropical climate zone where there is unbroken sunshine for the whole year due to the stable descending air and high pressure. Such areas include the Sahara, Saudi Arabia, large parts of Iran and Iraq, northwest India, California, South Africa and much of Australia. Here, maximum temperatures of 40 to 45C are common, although during colder periods of the year, night-time temperatures can drop to freezing or below due to the exceptional radiation loss under the clear skies. The Gobi desert in Mongolia is an example of a cool desert. Though hot in summer, it shares the very cold winters of central Asia. The Arctic and Antarctic regions, too, receive very little precipitation during the year, owing to the exceptionally cold dry air, but are more usually classified as types of polar climate. Semi-desert areas include the Steppes of southern Russia and central Asia, and the Parries of Canada. Desert climate

Deserts represent one-fifth (20%) of the land surface of the world. The majority of deserts are in the Arabian Peninsula, Australia, The Americas, North and South Africa, India and Pakistan. The largest desert is the Sahara, in North Africa, and is about 3,500,000 square miles. Deserts are characterized by extreme heat and dryness, very hot in the daytime and chilly or even cold at night. The average temperature is 100 degrees during the day and below 50 degrees at night. The wettest desert does not get more than 10 inches of rain a year. A variety of plant and animal species live there, thanks to their power to adapt to the harsh environment. Camels, for example, are able to store large quantities of water in their humps. Animals like rattlesnakes and scorpions spend most of the day underground but come out at night to eat and hunt. Spade foot toads spend 9 months of the year underground. Deserts often get their names like "Death Valley" or "The place from where there is no return" because of their extreme conditions.

Desert climate links and additional information:

-The desert is often very hot in the daytime. At night, it may get somewhat chilly, or even cold.
Link: http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/desert_climate.htm

-What is a desert? Although deserts are characterized by dry climates, particular deserts are often dry for different reasons. Deserts are the driest places on earth.
Link: http://cyberkids.ccsd.k12.wy.us/sunflower/projects/Bodesert.html

-All you ever wanted to know about the Mojave Desert, with emphasis on the desert of North American and their 4 main divisions -- the Chihuahuan, Great Basin, Mojave and Sonoran.
Link: http://www.desertusa.com/du_mojave.html

-The American Desert includes the Mojave, Colorado, and Sonoran Deserts.
Link: http://www.fs.fed.us/colorimagemap/images/322.html

-Deserts are very dry places. Some of them get less than 10 inches of rain in a whole year.
Link: http://www.ahsd25.k12.il.us/Curriculum%20Info/africa/desert.htm

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