Different types of deserts
The Desert
To be classified a desert, an area must receive less than 25cm (10inch) of annual rain fall, and the amount of evaporation exceeds the annual rainfall as temperatures in some deserts can reach up to 54°C (130°F). This means that deserts have arid environments. Because of the harsh climate, many people think that there isn't much plant and animal life, however, many plants and animals have adapted to this biome. The many different species that live in deserts have made it so they don't need as much water and when they do get water, they store it very well. Deserts are found in every continent and cover one fifth of the world's land surface. These biomes house around 1 billion people around the world. That is 1 eighth of the worlds population!
The Desert
The stereotypical dune-filled, mountainous biome that comes to mind when you hear the word 'desert', actually only fits the description of about 10% of the earths deserts. The other deserts are made up of dry expanses of rock, sand, or salt flats. There are 5 types of deserts that are classified by their reasons for being dry. They are; subtropical, coastal, rain shadow, interior, and polar. Subtropical deserts are found along the tropic of cancer and Capricorn at 15-30 degrees north and south of the equator. Deserts weren't always as dry as they are today. For example, between 8000 to 3000 BCE, the Sahara desert had a much more moist and milder climate. Overtime, though, deserts have gotten dryer and harsher due to global warmings and other environmental issues.
Person walking their camels in the Thar desert
Fun Fact: India carried out its first nuclear weapon explosion test in the Thar Desert on 18 May 1974.
The Thar desert's monsoon rainfall is very unpredictable as seen in this image. From 2014 to 2018, the amount of rainfall differed significantly. There were no consistencies throughout the years. The amount of rainfall didn't go up or down each year, its random. The amount of monsoon rainfall changes each year but in no pattern. However, there are a few similarities. In each year, the monsoon rainfall peaks in the middle of the year. Also, there is between 10-0 millimetres of rainfall as it gets closer to the end of the year, showing that by the end of the year, there is significantly less water going into the Thar desert making the ends of the every year more difficult for the organisms living there.
