Here we explore the 10 largest deserts in the world, sharing their size, features, location, and the odd useful and interesting! Deserts are defined as dry regions receiving less than 12 inches of precipitation annually, and are formed when regional climate changes result in long-lasting drought conditions. The Antarctic Desert is the biggest desert in the world, covering all of the land of Antarctica — the continent located over the South Pole. The area has many more superlatives associated with its name than the largest desert alone.
Antarctica is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents in the world. Antarctica receives an annual precipitation of just 20 mm, which occurs only along the coastal region. The continent is too cold for rainfall, rather the drops of rain turn into small snowflakes and cover the outer surface of the enormous ice sheets. The cold Arctic Desert is the second largest desert in the world, located in the northern polar region of Earth.
The desert stretches across an area of the Arctic Ocean 2, km from east to west and 1, km from north to south, covering a number of island groups of the north coast of Norway and Russia. The Arctic Desert observes very similar environmental features as the Antarctic Desert, though has a slightly higher precipitation rate of 50cm per year — approximately the same amount as the Sahara.
A camel caravan makes its way over the Saharan sand dunes. In our top 10 list, it is the third-largest desert on the planet. Just like the sandstorms seen in hot deserts, the high winds pick up snow and turn into blizzards. The storms can reach speeds of up to km an hour mph and are one of the reasons the continent is actually so cold. The Antarctic can also get freakishly cold. The coldest temperature ever recorded was taken at the Soviet Vostok Station on the Antarctic Plateau.
It reached a historic low of Satellite data indicated a temperature of around Curiously, the second-largest desert in the world is also cold. The Arctic Desert covers a total area of about 13,7 million square kilometers 5,29 million square miles. The total amount of precipitation is below mm 10 inches , which is predominantly in the form of snow. The desert partially occupies parts of territories claimed or controlled by Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. Then, in winter, there are extended periods of darkness.
It has a total size of 9,4 million square kilometers or 3,3 million square miles. It occupies most of the land in North Africa except for the regions of the Maghreb, the Atlas Mountains, and the coastal region next to the Mediterranean Sea. The average annual rainfall ranges from very low in the northern and southern fringes of the desert to nearly non-existent over the central and eastern parts.
Most of the Sahara receives less than 20 millimeters or 0. By far the biggest desert in the world is the continent of Antarctica with an area of 14 million square kilometers. Chihuahuan Desert With a size of , square kilometers, this desert stretches through Mexico and the United States.
Great Basin Located in the U. Syrian Desert Despite its name, this desert spans beyond Syria into Iraq and Jordan measuring , square kilometers. Patagonian Desert Stretching through Argentina and Chile, this cold winter desert has an area of , square kilometers. As recently as the late 19th century, many high profile explorers held the misguided belief of an Open Polar Sea in the region that encompasses the modern-day Arctic Polar Desert. This theory was predicated upon the idea that one could push through these northern barriers of ice in order to reach an open and navigable ocean surrounding the North Pole.
While this theory has since been disproven, at the cost of many lost Arctic expeditions, it may actually come true in the future as a result of Arctic Shrinkage. In fact, it is quite likely that there will eventually be an ice-free route between Europe and the Pacific Ocean by way of the Arctic.
Arctic Polar Desert Statistics:. The Antarctic Polar Desert, which makes up the vast majority of Antarctica, is the largest desert in the world. In fact, this single desert is larger than the combined size of the Gobi Desert, the Arabian Desert, and the Sahara Desert. While both of the polar deserts on this list have many similarities, they can be distinguished by a stark contrast in plant life. Unlike its northern counterpart, the Antarctic Polar Desert was not believed to contain any plant life whatsoever up until a small number of microorganisms were discovered in the s.
This southern desert also experiences extremely high wind speeds that, when combined with its arid environment, can form hypersaline lakes. Some examples of these hypersaline bodies of water are Lake Vanda and the Don Juan Pond, each of which contain a salt content that is ten times higher than seawater.
Similar to the northern Arctic, Antarctica was also the site of numerous daring expeditions over the years. Another notable example is the Shackleton Expedition from to in which a team of 28 men attempted to cross the entirety of Antarctica by land.
However, their ship became trapped in the ice before they were able to make land and the crew was forced to drift on pack ice for many months. Eventually eight of the men made an incredible mile journey in a small open boat to reach an inhabited island and mount a rescue of the remaining twenty men. Fun fact: Seeing as though Shackleton's ship was named Endurance, we decided to create a World Map based around this epic adventure.
Take a look at our Endurance World Map.
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