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The Sahara Desert is very dry and even extremely dry because the desert is located in the subtropics, near the tropics where there is a semi-permanent, subtropical high pressure belt, called the subtropical ridge that is present in the subtropical latitudes, also known as the horse latitudes. The subtropical ridge is a belt of large-scale descending, sinking dry air which brings clear skies, sunny and dry weather to the region. The subtropical ridge is directly formed by the general atmospheric circulation, more accurately by the Hadley Cell. The subtropical ridge is the major factor that explains the aridity of the Sahara Desert. The subtropical ridge produces the trade winds, which are the prevailing winds found in the intertropical zone which blow from the northeast to the southwest in the Northern Hemisphere. The trade winds blow from the subtropical ridge to the ITZC (Intertropical Convergence Zone which responds to a equatorial low pressure belt). The trade winds passes over the Sahara Desert and are a very dry since they come from directly from the subtropical high pressure systems, which allows to keep the desert dry since there are no source for taking moisture (continentality). The last factor that causes aridity in this desert is the rain shadow, for example the High Atlas Mountains, being the highest and the most important mountain range in the Sahara Desert block the most pat of the moisture from the winds blowing from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean : the cool, wet air from the sea becomes a hot, dry air that stagnates over the desert.

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9y ago
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6y ago

It isn't. The Sahara Desert is only the world's largest hot desert.

Sahara is the largest hot desert b/c it's the largest continuing area that fits the definition of being a desert.

The world's largest desert is Antarctica since a desert is defined as an area receiving less than 250 mm or 10 inches of precipitation per year. The Antarctic desert covers 13.9 million square kilometres, or almost 5.5 million square miles.

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9y ago

The Sahara Desert aridity is mainly caused by these following factors : the subtropical ridge, the rain shadow, and the stabilizing influence of a cold ocean current. The subtropical ridge is a semi-permanent high pressure belt, located the most time of the year in the subtropics, near the tropics, more accurately in the subtropical latitudes, also known as the horse latitudes. The subtropical ridge is a region with a descending, sinking dry air, which brings clear skies and dry weather to the zone. The subtropical ridge is formed by the atmospheric circulation, that's to say by the Hadley Cell. The subtropical ridge produces the trade winds, which are the prevailing winds found in the intertropical zone which blow from the northeast to the southwest in the Northern Hemisphere. The trade winds blow from the subtropical ridge to the ITZC (Intertropical Convergence Zone which responds to a equatorial low pressure belt). The trade winds passes over the Sahara Desert and are a very dry since they come from directly from the subtropical high pressure systems, which allows to keep the desert dry since there are no source for taking moisture (continentality). This is the first cause of the desert aridity. The second cause is the rain shadow effect, for example the High Atlas Mountains block the most of the moisture come directly from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, which considerably reduces the amount of clouds and precipitation that will go in the Sahara Desert. The cool, wet air from the sea as this one passes over the mountain range, cools off and moistens even more. As the air cools off, it start to condenses when it can't handle any water vapor in forms of clouds and precipitation. At the top of the mountains, the air is dry. And when the air mass sink, it warms up and dries out because it can handle more and more humidity. That's thus hot, dry air which stagnates over the Sahara Desert. The Atlas Mountains results in a strong drier rain shadow effect. The last factor is the influence of a cold ocean current, called the Canary Current, which considerably cools down the climate of the west coast of the desert. But as cooling down the air, it also prevents it to lift and to rise, which means that prevents condensation process, so no clouds and rain can be formed. This is a stabilizing influence, since the air mass is cooled by the bottom while the upper air mass keeps his temperature.

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8y ago

Due to the geographic location of deserts they receive little rainfall. As they have low humidity and little cloud cover they receive intense solar radiation that causes a high rate of evaporation.

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14y ago

It is relatively dry for a place on Earth.

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12y ago

because its a desert and desert are so hot that people thinks that there is water but there is not.

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Q: Why does it not rain the Sahara desert?
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A place that doesn't get a lot of rain?

the Sahara desert


Does Tanzania have rain forest?

Ethiopia has the Eastern Desert which is the Sahara Desert.


Which month has the most rain in the desert?

April


What is the main cause of desert conditions in the Sahara?

There are many factors that cause the desert conditions of the Sahara. Some factors that affect the desert are lack of rain and sand.


Does the Sahara have fresh water or salt water?

fresh water. the Sahara is a desert, so all its water comes from rain. Rain is freshwater.


Which is dry Sahara desert or Amazon forest?

the Sahara is very dry and called a desert, the forest in Brazil is called a rain forest and very hot and moist.


What is the difference between a desert and a rain forest?

The Sahara desert used to be a rainforest, and is assumed to turn back into one another 20,000 years from now.


Do the Sahara and Namib Deserts account for much of Africa's annual rainfall?

No, the rain forests account for much of Africa's rainfall. The Namib Desert and Sahara receive little rain.


What climate does most. of northern. Africa. have?

Most of northern Africa has a desert climate. The Sahara the worlds largest desert receives a mere 10 inches of rain a year.


How many inches of rain does the Sahara desert get each year?

The Sahara Receives Less Than 2 cm Per Year


Where on earth does it rain least?

Any desert such as the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Sahara in Africa, and the Gobi in China.It never rains at all in Antarctica as it is too cold for rain.


Which is the coldest - the Sahara or the Gobi?

The Sahara Desert is hotter than the Atacama Desert, it's larger than the Atacama Desert and it has more life, but the Atacama Desert is much drier. The Atacama Desert is the driest place on Earth, with an average of less than a millimetre of the rain.