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MAJOR DESERTS OF THE WORLD

31st July, 2021

What is a Desert?

  • A desert is a landscape or region that receives very little precipitation - less than 250 mm per year (about ten inches).
  • Approximately 1/3 of Earth's land surface is a desert.
  • There are four different types of deserts based upon their geographic situation:
    • polar deserts,
    • subtropical deserts,
    • cold winter deserts, and
    • cool coastal deserts.

Major Deserts of the World

Name

Type of Desert

Surface Area

Location

Antarctic

Polar

5.5 million mi²

Antarctica

Arctic

Polar

5.4 million mi²

Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia

Sahara

Subtropical

3.5 million mi²

Northern Africa

Arabian

Subtropical

1 million mi²

Arabian Peninsula

Gobi

Cold Winter

500,000 mi²

China and Mongolia

Patagonian

Cold Winter

260,000 mi²

Argentina

Great Victoria

Subtropical

250,000 mi²

Australia

Kalahari

Subtropical

220,000 mi²

South Africa, Botswana, Namibia

Great Basin

Cold Winter

190,000 mi²

United States

Syrian

Subtropical

190,000 mi²

Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia

Chihuahuan

Subtropical

175,000 mi²

Mexico

Great Sandy

Subtropical

150,000 mi²

Australia

Kara-Kum

Cold Winter

135,000 mi²

Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan

Colorado Plateau

Cold Winter

130,000 mi²

United States

Gibson

Subtropical

120,000 mi²

Australia

Sonoran

Subtropical

120,000 mi²

United States, Mexico

Kyzyl-Kum

Cold Winter

115,000 mi²

Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan

Taklamakan

Cold Winter

105,000 mi²

China

Iranian

Cold Winter

100,000 mi²

Iran

Thar

Subtropical

75,000 mi²

India, Pakistan

Simpson

Subtropical

56,000 mi²

Australia

Mojave

Subtropical

54,000 mi²

United States

Atacama

Cool Coastal

54,000 mi²

Chile

Namib

Cool Coastal

13,000 mi²

Angola, Namibia, South Africa

The Largest Desert

  • The two largest deserts on Earth are in the polar areas.
  • The Antarctic Polar Desert covers the continent of Antarctica and has a size of about 5.5 million square miles.
  • The second-largest desert is the Arctic Polar Desert.
  • It extends over parts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. It has a surface area of about 5.4 million square miles.

Non-Polar Deserts

  • The rest of Earth's deserts are outside of the polar areas.
  • The largest is the Sahara Desert, a subtropical desert in northern Africa.
  • It covers a surface area of about 3.5 million square miles.