Description and Location:
Sahara Desert( Arabic for The Great Desert)
• The largest hot desert and the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic
• One of the most‘ unforgiving landscapes’
• 9,200,000 square kilometers- comparable to the area of the United States.
• The desert covers large sections of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia.
• Atlantic Ocean- West; Mediterranean Sea- North; Red Sea- East; Niger River Valley- South
• Divided into: Western Sahara; the central Hoggar Mountains; the Tibesti Mountains, the Air Mountains, Ténéré desert and the Libyan desert
Functions- Climate:
• One of the worlds most severe climates
• Only has 2 permanent rivers( Nile and Niger), and a handful of lakes
• 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.
• Natural disturbances: common as the occasional fires or cold weather, and sudden, infrequent & intense rain leading to flooding
• Summer: daytime air temps. can reach over 100; the hottest air temp. ever recorded at 136 degrees
Functions- Animals and Plants:
• The Sahara ' s environment requires that the wildlife adapt to hyper-arid conditions, fierce winds, intense heat and wide temperature swings.
• Altogether, the Sahara hosts some 70 species of mammals, 90 species of resident birds, 100 species of reptiles, and numerous species of arthropods( invertebrates that have jointed limbs, segmented bodies and external skeletons).
• Harbors a relatively sparse community of wild plants, with the highest concentrations occurring along the northern and southern margins and near the oases and drainages.
• It has imposed adaptations on the plants e. g. near wadis and oases, plants such as date palms, tamarisks and acacia put down long roots to reach life-sustaining water.
• Arid areas: the seeds of flowering plants sprout quickly after a rain, putting down shallow roots, and completing their growing cycle and producing seeds in a matter of days, before the soil dries out