A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants.
Deserts are part of a wide classification of regions that, on an average annual basis, have a moisture deficit.
Deserts are located where vegetation cover is sparse to almost nonexistent.
Deserts take up about one fifth (20%) of the Earth's land surface.
Many deserts are formed by rain shadows; mountains blocking the path of precipitation to the desert. Deserts are often composed of sand and rocky surfaces.
Scientifically we classify deserts as “Hot deserts” and “Cold or Semi-deserts”.
Desert climate
A desert climate, also known as an arid climate, is a climate that does not meet the criteria to be classified as a polar climate, and in which precipitation is too low to sustain any vegetation at all, or at most a very scanty scrub. An area that features this climate usually experiences less than 250 mm per year of precipitation and in some years may experience no precipitation at all. In some instances an area may experience more than 250 mm of precipitation annually, but is still considered a desert climate because the region loses more water than falls as precipitation.
There are usually two or three variations of a desert climate: a hot desert climate, a cold desert climate and, sometimes, a mild desert climate.…
