Biomes

Desert

Citation Formats

General Reference

Nature Atlas. "Desert." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/biomes/desert.

APA Style

Nature Atlas. (n.d.). Desert. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/biomes/desert

BibTeX

@misc{natureatlas-desert,
  author = {Nature Atlas},
  title = {Desert},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/biomes/desert},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

A biome defined by scarcity of water rather than by heat: any region receiving very little annual precipitation qualifies, which is why deserts range from the scorching Sahara to the frigid Gobi and the polar ice deserts of Antarctica. Plants and animals here carry specialized adaptations for conserving water and tolerating extreme daily temperature swings, since clear skies and thin vegetation let deserts lose heat rapidly after sunset even when daytime temperatures are severe. Hot deserts cover roughly a fifth of the Earth's land surface, concentrated in belts near 30 degrees north and south latitude where descending dry air suppresses rainfall.

Facts

Climate

Annual Precipitation (mm)

150 1

Desert precipitation varies hugely by subtype, from well under 25mm a year in hyper-arid cores to close to the roughly 250mm ceiling most definitions use; 150mm is a representative mid-range figure, not a single measured site.

Typical Low Temperature (C)

-4 1

A hot desert's own night low can fall well below freezing; the figure recorded here is a representative hot-desert winter night low, not the extreme reached in a cold desert such as the Gobi.

Typical High Temperature (C)

45 1

45C is a representative hot-desert summer day figure; the most extreme deserts reach as high as 54C.

Cross-Tradition Connections