The Sahara has one of the world's most severe climates. Typically, the Sahara landscape experiences extremely limited to virtually no rainfall, powerful and capricious winds and wide temperature ranges. Across the desert, the annual average rainfall equals no more than a few inches or less, much less in many locations.
In some areas, no rain at all may fall over several years. Then, several inches may fall in a torrential downpour. Then, no rain at all may fall for several more years. The prevailing wind, which blows from the northeast toward the equator throughout the year, accounts for the desert's aridness. As the wind moves southwestward, the air warms, dissipating moisture that might otherwise be released as rainfall. Locally, hot winds often lift sand and dust particles from the desert floor, spinning them upward through cooler air as dust devils or propelling them southwestward as fierce and blinding dust storms.
In the summer, daytime air temperatures across the Sahara often soar to well over degrees Fahrenheit, with the hottest air temperature meteorologists have ever recorded -- degrees -- occurring at Azizia, Libya, on September 13, Daytime summer temperatures are often over degrees Fahrenheit 38 degrees Celsius and can drop to near-freezing temperatures at nighttime.
The area of the Sahara desert has grown nearly 10 percent since , according to a study published in the Journal of Climate. While all deserts, including the Sahara, increase in area during the dry season and decrease during the wet season, human-caused climate change in conjunction with natural climate cycles, are causing the Sahara desert to grow more and shrink less.
The study's authors estimated that approximately a third of the desert's expansion was due to human-made climate change. One proposal for mitigating the effects of climate change is to install large-scale wind and solar farms in the Sahara.
The farms would provide clean energy and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere, and may also promote increased precipitation in the vicinity, according to a study published in the journal Science. Simulations showed that in areas with wind farms, there would be warmer temperatures, especially at night, caused by the wind turbines bringing warm air to the surface from higher in the atmosphere.
The researchers also estimated that precipitation over the wind farms would double on average, thereby increasing vegetation by an estimated 20 percent. The solar farm simulations produced similar results. The study authors predicted that a large-scale Saharan wind farm would produce approximately 3 terawatts of electrical power, while a large-scale Saharan solar farm would produce about 79 terawatts, which greatly exceeds the 18 terawatts of electrical power that were consumed in The extra energy could be put towards more large-scale projects including increased agriculture and water desalination.
Located in North Africa, it covers large sections of the continent - covering 9,, square kilometers which is comparable to the are of China or the US!
If you're joining us on our Sahara Desert Trek or just want to find out some interesting facts about the Sahara then keep reading to fuel your wanderlust! The Sahara is the hottest desert in the world — with one of the harshest climates.
The area receives little rainfall, in fact, half of the Sahara Desert receives less than 1 inch of rain every year. Snow falls regularly on several mountain ranges, but nowhere else in the Sahara. The Sahara Desert is the largest hot desert in the world, and the third largest overall after the Antarctica and the Arctic. The Sahara Desert covers an incredible 9.
The Sahara is much more than just sand — in fact, the majority of the Sahara is made up of barren, rocky plateaus, as well as salt flats, sand dunes, mountains and dry valleys.
Sand dunes ergs, edeyin, or ramlah cover great areas of the Sahara. Other vast sand seas are in Libya and Egypt. The Sahara is the world's driest hot desert. Some places receive an average of 4 in 10 cm of rain a year. Most areas receive much less. Some areas may not receive any rain for years or more. Rare thunderstorms occur which can have disastrous effects. Whole desert towns built from dried mud brick have been destroyed in the sudden storms.
The Sahara has become much drier over the last 10, years.
0コメント