Deserts in the World
A desert is a landscape or region that receives very little precipitation - less than 250 mm per year (about ten inches). Approximately 1/3 of Earth’s land surface is a desert.
There are four different types of deserts in the world based upon their geographic situation of Earth Continents :
- Polar Desert
- Subtropical Deserts
- Cold winter Deserts
- Cool Coastal Deserts.
This is the list of the Deserts in the world by area and related information
| Biggest Deserts in the World | Location | Area (sq km) | Area (sq miles) | Related Information |
| Antarctic desert | Antarctic | 138,00,000 | 5,32,818 | Ice desert with an average ice thickness of about 2.2 km, low-temperature record of -89.2 degrees (measured at Vostok research station). |
| Arctic desert | Canada, Alaska,Greenland, Iceland, Russia, Finland | 137,00,000 | 5,28,957 | Ice desert with temperatures as low as -60°. |
| Sahara | Egypt, Mali,Algeria, Libya,Niger, Chad,Sudan, Tunisia, Mauritania | 90,00,000 | 3,47,490 | Ca. 37 times bigger than the UK, located in 11 countries, about 45 mm of rain p.a., extreme temperature fluctuations between 60° to minus 10° C. |
| Rub al Khali (Arabian Desert) | Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen | 23,00,000 | 88,803 | About 9 times as large as the UK, lies to the east of the Sahara on the Arabian Peninsula. With about 10 mm of rainfall a year, it is one of the driest deserts in the world. |
| Gobi | Mongolia, PR China | 12,00,000 | 46,332 | Extremely dry, sandy desert with temperatures between 30° (daytime) and -65° C at night, 33 mm of rain p.a., extends south to within 70 km of Beijing. |
| Kalahari | Botswana, Namibia, South Africa | 9,00,000 | 34,749 | Mostly (red) sand desert, in the north (Botswana) it borders on the animal rich Okavango Delta. |
| Patagonian desert | Argentina | 6,73,000 | 25,985 | Rock and gravel desert, ideal backdrop for Westerns, average rainfall 100 mm / year. |
| Great Victoria Desert | Australia | 6,50,000 | 25,097 | Situated in the middle of the continent, about three times larger than the UK, 150-220 mm rain annually, particularly worth seeing: the crescent-shaped dunes of clay. |
| Syrian Desert | Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia | 5,25,000 | 20,270 | Covers about 65% of the Syrian land area. |
| Great Basin Desert | USA (Colorado, Utah) | 5,00,000 | 19,305 | Located in the Sierra Nevada Ranch, considered one of the so-called “cold deserts”, to the east are the Rocky Mountains. |
| Great Sandy Desert | Western Australia | 3,70,500 | 14,305 | So hot and dry that it is uninhabitable in many parts. |
| Chihuahua | Mexico / USA | 3,63,000 | 14,015 | Pronounced “She-wow-wah”, the famousWhite Sands dunes are found here. |
| Takla Makan | PR China | 3,27,000 | 12,625 | In English: “no return”. Silk Road desert with Kara Buran sandstorms. |
| Gibson | Western Australia | 3,11,000 | 12,008 | Named after Alfred Gibson who died when during the first crossing in 1873. |
| Kyzyl Kum | Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan | 3,00,000 | 11,583 | Its name means red sand. |
| Karakum | Turkmenistan | 2,78,000 | 10,734 | Very sparse but rich in mineral resources such as petroleum. |
| Lut | Iran | 2,74,000 | 10,579 | Biggest desert in Iran, salt desert. |
| Thar | Indo-Pakistan. Border | 2,60,000 | 10,039 | About the size of Great Britain. |
| Somalia | Somalia | 2,60,000 | 10,039 | Only some 13% of Somalia is arable land. |
| Simpson | Central Australia, Queensland | 2,60,000 | 10,039 | Largest sand dune desert in the world. |
| Sonora | USA (California) / Mexico | 1,81,000 | 6988 | Home of the famous “Saguaro Cacti” which grow up to 15 m high. |
| Atacama | Northern Chile | 1,80,000 | 6950 | Regarded as the driest desert in the world. Only rains about every 30 years. |
| Namib | Namibia | 1,50,000 | 5792 | Extremely arid desert. Only plant life – Welwitschia mirabilis – survives for up to 1000 years. |
| Mojave | USA | 65,000 | 2510 | Here is the famous Death Valley. The hottest place on earth (heat record: 57° C). |
| Negev | Israel | 12,000 | 463 | Accounts for more than half (about 58 %) of the State of Israel. |
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