Home » Records » Largest Desert The World's Largest Deserts

A map showing the generalized location of Earth's ten largest deserts and a table of over 20 major deserts.



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: 1) polar deserts, 2) subtropical deserts, 3) cold winter deserts, and 4) cool coastal deserts. As shown on the map above, deserts occur on all of Earth's continents.









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. A list of more than twenty of the largest non-polar deserts can be found below.







The Desert Environment When most people think of a desert, they imagine a landscape covered with sand and sand dunes. Although many deserts are sand-covered, most are not. Many desert landscapes are rocky surfaces. They are rocky because any sand-size or smaller particles on the surface are quickly blown away. Rocky deserts are barren wind-swept landscapes. Most deserts receive so little precipitation that surface streams usually only flow immediately after rainfall - unless the stream has a source of water outside of the desert. Streams that enter a desert usually suffer major water losses before they exit. Some of the water is lost to evaporation. Some is lost to transpiration (taken up by plants and then released to the atmosphere from the plants). And, some is lost to infiltration (water soaking into the ground through the bottom of the stream channel).

Desert Fauna and Flora The plants and animals that live in a desert must be adapted to the environment. Plants must be very tolerant to intense sun, prolonged periods without precipitation, and have an ability to prevent moisture loss to conditions of severe temperature ranges, dry winds, and low humidity. Animals must be able to tolerate temperature extremes, temperature ranges, and have an ability to survive with very little water. Many animals adapt to desert conditions by living underground and being active at night.

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







