Environment

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Deserts are varied and variable environments, and it is impossible to arrive at a concise definition that satisfies every case. However, their most fundamental characteristic is a shortage of available moisture for plants, resulting from an imbalance between precipitation and evapotranspiration. This situation is exacerbated by considerable variability in the timing of rainfall, low atmospheric humidity, high daytime temperatures, and winds.

Average annual precipitation ranges from almost zero in some South American coastal deserts and Libyan deserts to about 600 millimetres (24 inches) in deserts in Madagascar, although most recognized deserts have an annual rainfall below 400 millimetres. Some authorities consider 250 millimetres the upper limit for mean annual precipitation for true deserts, describing places with a mean annual rainfall of between 250 and 400 millimetres as semideserts. Regions this dry are barely arable and contribute to human food production only by providing grazing lands for livestock.

The arid conditions of the major desert areas result from their position in subtropical regions to either side of the moist equatorial belt. The atmospheric circulation pattern known as the Hadley cell plays an important role in desert climate. In areas close to the Equator, where the amount of incoming solar energy per unit surface area is greatest, air near the ground is heated, then rises, expands, and cools. This process leads to the condensation of moisture and to precipitation. At high levels in the atmosphere, the risen air moves away from the equatorial region to descend eventually in the subtropics as it cools; it moves back toward the Equator at low altitudes, completing the Hadley cell circulation pattern. The air descending over the subtropics has already lost most of its moisture as rain formed during its previous ascent near the Equator. As it descends, it becomes compressed and warmer, its relative humidity falling further. (For further discussion of relative humidity, see biosphere: Humidity.) Hot deserts occur in those regions to the north and south of the equatorial belt that lie beneath these descending, dry air masses. This pattern may be interrupted where local precipitation is increased, especially on the east sides of continents where winds blow onshore, carrying moisture picked up over the ocean. Conversely, deserts may be found elsewhere, as in the lee of mountain ranges, where air is forced to rise, cool, and lose moisture as rain falling on the windward slopes.

Rainfall in deserts is usually meagre. In some cases several years may pass without rain; for example, at Cochones, Chile, no rain fell at all in 45 consecutive years between 1919 and 1964. Usually, however, rain falls in deserts for at least a few days each year—typically 15 to 20 days. When precipitation occurs, it may be very heavy for short periods. For instance, 14 millimetres fell at Mashʾabe Sade, Israel, in only seven minutes on October 5, 1979, and in southwestern Madagascar the entire annual rainfall commonly occurs as heavy showers falling within a single month. Such rainfall usually occurs only over small areas and results from local convectional cells, with more widespread frontal rain being restricted to the southern and northern fringes of deserts. In some local desert showers, the rain falling from clouds evaporates before it reaches the ground. Regions near the equatorial margins of hot deserts receive most of their rain in summer—June to August in the Northern Hemisphere and December to February in the Southern Hemisphere—while those near the temperate margins receive most of their rainfall in winter. Rain is particularly erratic and equally unlikely to occur in all seasons in intermediate regions.

In some deserts that are located near coasts, such as the Namib Desert of southwestern Africa and those of the west coasts of the Americas in California and Peru, fog is an important source of moisture that is otherwise scarce. Moisture droplets settle from the fog onto plants and then may drip onto the soil or be absorbed directly by plant shoots. Dew also may be significant, although not in deserts in from the central parts of continents where atmospheric humidity is consistently very low.

In most desert regions atmospheric humidity is usually too low to permit formation of fog or dew to any significant extent. Potential evaporation rates (the rate of evaporation that would occur if water were continually present) are correspondingly high, typically 2,500 to 3,500 millimetres per year, with as much as 4,262 millimetres potential evaporation per year having been recorded in Death Valley in California. Winds are not unusually strong or frequent in comparison with adjacent environments, but the general lack of vegetation in deserts exacerbates the effect of wind at ground level. Winds can induce the erosion of fine materials and the evaporation of moisture and thereby help determine which plants survive in the desert.

Hot deserts, as their name indicates, experience very high temperatures by day, especially in summer. Absolute maximum air temperatures in all hot deserts exceed 40 °C (104 °F), and the highest value recorded, in Libya, is 58 °C (136.4 °F). The temperature of the soil surface can rise even beyond that of the air, with values as high as 78 °C (172 °F) recorded in the Sahara. However, night temperatures can fall dramatically, because the same lack of cloud cover that admits high levels of incoming solar radiation during the day also allows rapid loss of energy through long-wave radiation to the sky at night. Absolute minimum temperatures, except in desert areas close to the sea, are generally below the freezing point. Typical mean annual temperatures are between 20 °C (68 °F) and 25 °C (77 °F).

Temperate or cold deserts occur in temperate regions at higher latitudes—and therefore colder temperatures—than those at which hot deserts are found. These dry environments are caused by either remoteness from the coast, which results in low atmospheric humidity from a lack of onshore winds, or the presence of high mountains separating the desert from the coast. The largest area of temperate desert lies in Central Asia, with smaller areas in western North America, southeastern South America, and southern Australia. While they experience lower temperatures than the more typical hot deserts, temperate deserts are similar in aridity and consequent environmental features including landforms and soils.

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The peculiar climatic environment of deserts has favoured the development of certain characteristic landforms. Stony plains called regs or gibber plains are widespread, their surface covered by desert pavement consisting of coarse gravel and stones coated with a patina of dark “desert varnish” (a glossy dark surface cover consisting of oxides of iron). Rocky, boulder-strewn plateaus cut by dry, usually steep-sided valleys called wadis are also found in deserts in many parts of the world. The local topographic and microclimatic variations produced by this rugged surface, and the opportunities for runoff—and in a few places surface accumulation—of rainwater, are important in providing localized habitats for plants and animals. Large areas of loose, mobile sand provide the harshest and poorest of the major desert habitat types.

Desert soils are mainly immature, weakly developed in terms of their soil profiles, and mostly alkaline. Sands, sandy or gravelly loams, shallow stony soils, and alluvium (material deposited by rivers and streams) and scree-derived deposits (rocky material at the base of cliffs) predominate. Although almost always dry, these soils may support well-developed microbial communities, particularly in association with roots. Domestic animals, however, can have a deleterious impact by trampling and compacting the soil; this activity can reduce the infiltration of water and damage vegetation, leading to erosion and redistribution of soil materials.