| Sahara Desert |
| Africa's has many wonderful wonders, but one of the most spectacular is the Sahara Desert. This desert is the largest in the world. It is located in North Africa and is 3,500,000 square miles in land. It reaches across from Africa's Atlantic coast to the Red Sea coast. The Sahel forms its southern border. 1200 miles from the top. The Sahara Desert covers Western Sahara (the country), Mauritania, Algeria, Niger, Libya, and Egypt; the southern parts of the countries Morocco and Tunisia; and the northern areas of Senegal, Mali, Chad, and Sudan. The Sahara Desert is divided into three main deserts. These deserts make Africa known as the heated country (well, in the north) and these are located near the equator. The three deserts are the Nubian Desert, Arabian Desert, and the Libyan Desert. The Nubian is located in Sudan, mainly the northeastern part. The Arabian can be found between the Nile River Valley and the Red Sea. This is also called the Eastern Desert. The Libyan is located west of the Nile River. Areas of coarse gravel cover around 71% of the Sahara. Sand Dunes cover around 14%. Famous Mountain Massifs are the Tibesti Massif in Northern Chad at 11,000 feet. The Ahagger Massif also called the Hoggar is located in Southern Algeria, which rises higher than 9,000 feet, and the Aïr Mountains, which can be called the Azbine are in Northern Niger, which rise more than 6,000 feet tall. The Sahara has one of the worst climates and rainfall on earth. The Sahara is in the trade winds belt, so, the region gets winds that are very strong and that are always there, from the northeast between a subtropical high-pressure area and an equatorial low-pressure area. As air moves downward from the high-pressure into the low-pressure area, it becomes warmer and drier. The winds are sometimes felt north and south of the desert, where they are variously known as sirocco, khamsin, and harmattan. The northern slopes of the Atlas Mountains take most of the moisture from winds blowing inshore from the Mediterranean Sea. This is similar to a rain shadow, but without clouds. The border on the north and the south, where the desert combines with the steppe, receives about 10 in. of rain a year, but over all other regions rainfall is even less, with an average total of less than 5 in. Dry spells may last for years, so having rain is a gift. But, since the desert is dry, floods usually form when it rains in a desert. What's funny is that the Sahara gets very little humidity. Daytime temperatures are quite high. Azizia, a city in Libya, recorded the world's highest known temperature in the shade at 136°F in September 1922. Heat loss is usually quick at night. Freezing temperatures are not uncommon at night from the months of December to February. |
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