A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than 400 millimetres (16 in). A common definition distinguishes between true deserts, which receive less than 250 millimetres (10 in) of average annual precipitation, and semideserts or steppes, which receive between 250 millimetres (10 in) and 400 to 500 millimetres (16 to 20 in).
Deserts can also be described as areas where more water is lost by evapotranspiration than falls as precipitation. In the Köppen climate classification system, deserts are classed as BWh (hot desert) or BWk (temperate desert). In the Thornthwaite climate classification system, deserts would be classified as arid megathermal climates.
Read more about Desert: Definition, Geography, Desert Features, Formation of Hot Deserts, Mineral Resources, Solar Energy Resources, Human Life in Deserts, Deserts On Other Planets
Other articles related to "desert, deserts":
2011, the earl finished his second 4 Desert race in the Atacama Desert of Chile, considered the driest place on earth ... was the recipient of the Spirit Award, presented by 4 Desert and Racing the Planet officials ... qualified to participate in the final marathon, The Last Desert, to be held in Antarctica in November 2012 ...
... who are interested in seeing the desert, and a starting point for desert treks by camel, motorcycle, or four-wheel-drive vehicle ... Festival of the Sahara, a four-day celebration of traditional desert culture ... of horses and salugis (a type of dog, similar to a greyhound, native to the North African desert.) Douz is home to the Museum of the Sahara, which showcases displays ...
... Mars is the only planet in the solar system on which deserts have been identified ... sand more than 5 million km² in area, much larger than deserts on Earth ... The Martian deserts principally consist of dunes in the form of half-moon in flat areas near the permanent polar ice caps in the north of the planet ...
... Lazar and long time friend Gene Huff run Desert Blast, an annual festival for "explodaholics" in the Nevada desert ... Starting in 1987, but only formally named in 1991, the name was inspired by Desert Storm) ...
... Atacama – a desert in Chile and Peru, the driest place on Earth La Guajira Desert – a desert in northern Colombia and Venezuela Monte Desert – in Argentina, a smaller desert above ...
Famous quotes containing the word desert:
“For beauty, wit,
High birth, vigor of bone, desert in service,
Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all
To envious and calumniating time.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“It’s alive and waiting for you. Ready to kill you if you go too far. The sun will get you, or the cold at night. A thousand ways the desert can kill.”
—Harry Essex (b. 1910)
“There were three classes of inhabitants who either frequent or inhabit the country which we had now entered: first, the loggers, who, for a part of the year, the winter and spring, are far the most numerous, but in the summer, except for a few explorers for timber, completely desert it; second, the few settlers I have named, the only permanent inhabitants, who live on the verge of it, and help raise supplies for the former; third, the hunters, mostly Indians, who range over it in their season.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)