What type of a desert is the Sahara?

Answer 1

The Sahara Desert is a hot, dry area covering most of North Africa.

Because there is practically no rainfall, few plants can grow there and those that do are specialized for arid conditions. In some parts there are no plants at all. Occasional wet areas fed by underground springs support oases, where plants grow well and people can live all year long.

In 1922 a temperature of 136° F (57.8°C) was recorded, making the Sahara the hottest desert in the world.

It is also the biggest hot desert in the world. However, it is the second biggest desert, as Antarctica is the biggest desert (but a cold desert).

Some parts of the Sahara are sandy with giant dunes, while other areas are gravel plains, rock plateaus and mountains (only 3/8th of the Sahara Desert is sand).
it is an expanse of sand where almost nothing lives only a few organisms are capable of surviving there .Some of the sand dunes can reach 180 metres (590 ft in in height

The climate of the Sahara has undergone enormous variation between wet and dry over the last few hundred thousand years.[11] During the last glacial period, the Sahara was even bigger than it is today, extending south beyond its current boundaries.[12] The end of the glacial period brought more rain to the Sahara, from about 8000 BC to 6000 BC, perhaps because of low pressure areas over the collapsing ice sheets to the north.[13]

Once the ice sheets were gone, northern Sahara dried out. In the southern Sahara though, the drying trend was soon counteracted by the monsoon, which brought rain further north than it does today. The monsoon season is caused by heating of air over the land during summer. The hot air rises and pulls in cool, wet air from the ocean, which causes rain. Thus, though it seems counterintuitive, the Sahara was wetter when it received more insulation in the summer. This was caused by a stronger tilt in Earth's axis of orbit than today, and perihelion occurred at the end of July around 7000 BC.[14]

By around 3400 BC, the monsoon retreated south to approximately where it is today,[15] leading to the gradual desertification of the Sahara.[16] The Sahara is now as dry as it was about 13,000 years ago.[11] These conditions are responsible for what has been called the Sahara pump theory.

The Sahara has one of the harshest climates in the world. The prevailing north-easterly wind often causes sand storms and dust devils.[17] When this wind reaches the Mediterranean, it is known as sirocco and often reaches hurricane speeds in North Africa and southern Europe. Half of the Sahara receives less than 20 mm (0.79 in) of rain per year, and the rest receives up to 100 mm (3.9 in) per year.[18] The rainfall happens very rarely, but when it does it is usually torrential when it occurs after long dry periods.

The southern boundary of the Sahara, as measured by rainfall, was observed to both advance and retreat between 1980 and 1990. As a result of drought in the Sahel, the southern boundary moved south 130 kilometres (81 mi) overall during that period.[19]

Recent signals indicate that the Sahara and surrounding regions are greening because of increased rainfall. Satellite imaging shows extensive re greening of the Sahel between 1982 and 2002, and in both Eastern and Western Sahara a more than 20 year long trend of increased grazing areas and flourishing trees and shrubs has been observed

Answer 2

The proper name is simply Sahara. The word means desert in Arabic so there is no need to call it the Sahara Desert which would translate to Desert Desert.

The Sahara Desert is known as the Sahara Desert.

Answer 3

The proper name is simply Sahara. The word means desert in Arabic so there is no need to call it the Sahara Desert which would translate to Desert Desert.

Answer 4

The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world and the second largest desert overall, exceeded in area only by the Antarctic Desert. It covers nearly all of the top third of the African continent and covers all, or parts of, about 11 countries.

Answer 5

The Sahara is a huge desert that covers much of the northern third of Africa. It is the largest hot desert on earth and second largest desert overall.

Answer 6

The Sahara Desert is known as the Sahara Desert.

Answer 7

Northern Africa is home to the Sahara.

Answer 8

It is a hot subtropical desert.

Answer 9

The Sahara is a hot subtropical desert.