Desert Jungle

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Sheil, D.; Wunder, S. (2002). "The value of tropical forest to local communities: complications, caveats, and cautions" (PDF). Conservation Ecology. 6 (2): 9. doi: 10.5751/ES-00458-060209. hdl: 10535/2768. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 24, 2021 . Retrieved September 25, 2019. Yan, Qing; Contoux, Camille; Camille Li; Schuster, Mathieu; Ramstein, Gilles; Zhang, Zhongshi (17 September 2014). "Aridification of the Sahara desert caused by Tethys Sea shrinkage during the Late Miocene". Nature. 513 (7518): 401–404. Bibcode: 2014Natur.513..401Z. doi: 10.1038/nature13705. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 25230661. S2CID 205240355. Important cities located in the Sahara include Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania; Tamanrasset, Ouargla, Béchar, Hassi Messaoud, Ghardaïa, and El Oued in Algeria; Timbuktu in Mali; Agadez in Niger; Ghat in Libya; and Faya-Largeau in Chad. Many deserts have no drainage to a river, lake, or ocean. Rainwater, including water from flash floods, collects in large depressions called basins. The shallow lakes that form in basins eventually evaporate, leaving playas, or salt-surfaced lake beds. Playas, also called sinks, pans, or salt flats, can be hundreds of kilometers wide. Civilizations throughout the Middle East and Maghreb have adapted their clothing to the hot, dry conditions of the Sahara and Arabian deserts. Clothing is versatile and based on robes made of rectangles of fabric. Long-sleeved, full-length, and often white, these robes shield all but the head and hands from the wind, sand, heat, and cold. White reflects sunlight, and the loose fit allows cooling air to flow across the skin.

Climate An oasis in the Ahaggar Mountains. Oases support some life forms in extremely arid deserts. English-Arabic online dictionary". Online.ectaco.co.uk. 28 December 2006. Archived from the original on 9 March 2009 . Retrieved 12 June 2010.

Ordos, China

Construction of the Aswan High Dam was a huge engineering project. Local desert communities can divertrivers on a smaller scale. Throughout the Middle East, communities have dug artificial wadis, where freshwater can flow during rainy seasons. In countries like Yemen, artificial wadis can carry enough water for whitewater rafting trips during certain times of the year. Kutzbach, J.E. (2 October 1981). "Monsoon Climate of the Early Holocene: Climate Experiment with the Earth's Orbital Parameters for 9000 Years Ago". Science. 214 (4516): 59–61. Bibcode: 1981Sci...214...59K. doi: 10.1126/science.214.4516.59. PMID 17802573. S2CID 10388125.

The largest desert in the world is also the coldest. Almost the entire continent of Antarctica is a polar desert, experiencing little precipitation. Few organisms can withstand the freezing, dry climate of Antarctica.Atlantic coastal desert". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund . Retrieved 29 December 2007.

In the post–World War II era, several mines and communities have developed to use the desert's natural resources. These include large deposits of oil and natural gas in Algeria and Libya, and large deposits of phosphates in Morocco and Western Sahara. [108] Libya's Great Man-Made River is the world's largest irrigation project. [109] The project uses a pipeline system that pumps fossil water from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System to cities in the populous Libyan northern Mediterranean coast including Tripoli and Benghazi. [110] To the south, the Sahara is bounded by the Sahel, a belt of dry tropical savanna with a summer rainy season that extends across Africa from east to west. The southern limit of the Sahara is indicated botanically by the southern limit of Cornulaca monacantha (a drought-tolerant member of the Chenopodiaceae), or northern limit of Cenchrus biflorus, a grass typical of the Sahel. [14] [15] According to climatic criteria, the southern limit of the Sahara corresponds to the 150mm (5.9in) isohyet of annual precipitation (this is a long-term average, since precipitation varies annually). [16]Houérou, Henry N. (2008). Bioclimatology and Biogeography of Africa. Springer. p.82. ISBN 978-3-540-85192-9. Archived from the original on 30 July 2023 . Retrieved 15 November 2015.