Map World Deserts

Map World Deserts. The largest desert in the world is the Antarctic Desert located in the Southern Hemisphere in the continent of Antarctica There are both hot and cold deserts, classified into semiarid, arid, and extremely arid or rainless deserts based on the total annual precipitation

There are both hot and cold deserts, classified into semiarid, arid, and extremely arid or rainless deserts based on the total annual precipitation Deserts and xeric, or dry, shrublands rarely receive more than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rainfall annually.

Earth's polar deserts cover nearly 5 million square kilometers of surface. The Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar desert in the world and the only hot desert to receive less precipitation than polar deserts Polar deserts are characterized by annual precipitation of less than 250 millimeters (or approximately 9.84 inches) and a mean temperature during the warmest month of the year of less than 10°C (50°F)

. Earth's polar deserts cover nearly 5 million square kilometers of surface. The Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar desert in the world and the only hot desert to receive less precipitation than polar deserts

. The Carcross Desert, located in Yukon, Canada is generally considered the smallest desert in the world, with an area of only about 2.5 square kilometers The ice that covers the cold desert is on average 2.45 kilometers (1.5 miles) thick.