World’s Longest Deserts
Following are some of the world’s longest deserts:
1. Antarctic Desert: The Antarctic desert is located in Antarctica and is measured as the coolest and driest desert. The Antarctic desert is having the maximum elevation of all the continents. This is the earth’s southernmost continent which is enclosed by the Southern ocean. Because of the tropical conditions the minimum temperature in the core in winters reaches in between -80 °C to -90 °C and in the summers it reaches to a maximum of 5°C to 15°C. As this desert is located in South Pole, the solar radiation which it receives is very diminutive and because of this it is the coldest continent. Almost 98% of the complete Antarctica is covered by ice. The total surface area of the Antarctic Desert is 5.5 million mi².
2. Arctic Desert: The Arctic desert consists of number of islands including Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya and Franz Joseph Islands. The Arctic desert is extended partially towards the United States, Norway, Russia, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Greenland and Canada. As it is located above the north latitude on 75 degrees, the average temperature of this desert in the hottest month reaches to 50 degree Fahrenheit. The Arctic desert is facing a major threat from the global warming as the glaciers are melting. The total surface area of the Arctic desert is 5.4 million mi².
3. Sahara Desert: The Sahara desert is the world’s third largest desert and is declared as the world’s hottest desert. It is located in the Northern Africa and it is the biggest desert on the African continent. The Sahara desert is prolonged from the Red Sea towards the Atlantic Ocean. From the Southern side it is surrounded by the Sahel which is a semi-arid tropical savanna belt. The name is derived from the plural Arabic word for desert. The major area of the Sahara desert is covered by the huge sand dunes. The Sahara boundaries are covered by the Atlantic Ocean from the west, from the east it is covered by the Red Sea, the northern side is surrounded by the Atlas Mountains and the valley of the Niger is covering the southern part. The total surface area of the Sahara desert is 3.5 million mi².
4. Arabian Desert: The Arabian Desert is the fourth largest desert in this world and it is positioned in the Western Asia. This desert is so vast and is elongated from the Yemen and Oman till Jordan and Iraq. In the middle of the Arabian Desert is the Rub’al-Khali which is one of the biggest sand bodies in the world. The temperature is extremely hot and dry in the summers and the seasonal nights are chilled. The Arabian Desert is surrounded by the Abu Dhabi, Qatar and the Persian Gulf. The total surface area of the Arabian Desert is 1 million mi².
5. Gobi Desert: The Gobi desert is located in Asia. This desert is sharing the part of the northwestern China and Southern Magnolia. Gobi Desert basins are circumscribed by the Altai Mountains and the Mongolia in the north. The climatic conditions in the Gobi are quite extreme and the temperature changes a much of 35 °C within 24 hours. The Gobi Desert is a cold desert sometimes covered with snow because of the winds the temperature of the Gobi desert varies from -40°C to +50°C. The total surface area of the Gobi desert is 500,000 mi².
6. Kalahari Desert: The sixth largest desert in the world is Kalahari Desert which is covering the maximum part of the Namibia, South Africa and Botswana. The temperature in this desert in summers is quite high and some seasonal rainfall is also there which receives about 110-200 millimeters rain water. The Kalahari Desert gives shelter to many migratory birds and animals. The total surface area of the Kalahari Desert is 220,000 mi².
7. Patagonian Desert: On the seventh place we have the Patagonian Desert. Patagonian Desert is also known as Patagonian Steppe. The Patagonian Desert is majorly located in the Argentina with some tiny parts in Chile. The desert is encircled by the Andes in the west and in the east by the Atlantic Ocean. This desert is having a total surface area of 200,000 mi².
