The Sahara Desert is the second largest desert in the world with about 9 million km2 of extension.
It is located in North Africa (between Mediterranean Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa), covering several countries on the African continent: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia.
It is bounded by borders: Mediterranean Sea and Atlas Mountains to the north, Red Sea to the east, the Sahel to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.
Sahara desert climate and temperature
You deserts they are extremely arid (dry) places, with high temperatures, low rainfall and low relative humidity. The Sahara Desert is the hottest in the world, due to its hyper-arid climate.
It presents high thermal range, since several temperature variations occur. Thus, during the day, temperatures can reach 50°C while at night they can reach -10°C.
In the region, winds are very recurrent, which generates several sandstorms, as it is largely formed by dunes.
Learn more about Desert climate.
Is it possible to snow in the Sahara desert?
Although it looks strange, it is possible to snow in the hot Sahara desert. The last episode took place on January 7, 2018, when snow covered the dunes of the landscape.
In this case, meteorologists believe that Europe's low temperatures and humidity have reached the desert and caused snow. The accumulated ice melted during the day as the temperature increased.
What makes the formation of snow in the desert difficult is the low humidity of the air. Therefore, the appearance of snow is a rare phenomenon, but possible to happen, other moments with the presence of snow occurred in 2016, 2017 and 1979.
Meet the General Aspects of Africa.
Sahara desert relief and vegetation
The Sahara desert landscape is made up of dunes, oasis and sparse vegetation. It is located in a plateau region and has a rugged relief and some mountain ranges.
The Sahara Desert has very sparse vegetation, although it varies a lot from region to region. Thus, we can find lichens, xerophilic plants, cacti, herbaceous, and plants with long roots.
Near the oases we find a large part of the vegetation, irrigated by the aquifers and groundwater present in the region, which are essential for the survival of the various peoples who live there.
Sahara desert fauna
The fauna of the Sahara desert is made up of few animals, as they depend on adaptation to the region's hostile climate.
It is mainly composed of camels, dromedaries, antelopes, goats, in addition to other mammals, rodents, migratory birds, insects, arachnids, lizards and snakes.
Learn about other deserts in the world
- gobi desert
- kalahari desert
Curiosities
- The Sahara Desert was once a place with lots of vegetation which housed a large tropical forest.
- It once housed one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world (Lake Chad). However, with the passage of time and the climate changes suffered in the place, it was transformed into a great desert, about 2.5 million years ago.
- You Bedouin designate an ethnic group that inhabits the Sahara desert. Generally, they are nomadic clans that develop grazing and trade, having to move in the desert in search of water and food.
- The Sahara Desert is a little smaller than Europe (10 thousand km2), being equivalent to the territory of the United States (9 thousand km2). If we compare the area of Brazil (about 8 thousand km2), we note that the Sahara Desert is even larger than the entire Brazilian territory.
Also know about the Biomes of the World.