Before we start looking at the largest deserts that exist today, we have to answer a very basic question: what is a desert?
What Is a Desert?
A desert is an arid, barren landscape that features little precipitation, with as little as 10 inches of rain or fewer occurring throughout the year. This is a major type of ecosystem on Earth, and it is also one of the most hostile ones in existence. Of course, humans have found a way to make them habitable. Contrary to popular belief, not all deserts are hot and sandy. Some of them occur in the coldest, most remote areas on Earth, such as Antarctica. We can now explore the types of deserts and use this knowledge to leave behind some preconceived notions about the nature of deserts.
What Types of Deserts Exist?
Five different kinds of deserts exist. They are subtropical deserts, coastal deserts, rain shadow deserts, interior deserts, and polar deserts. They can also be organized into four other kinds of deserts called hot, cold, semiarid, or coastal deserts. Knowing these different sorts of deserts will help conceptualize the vast differences that appear in these landscapes.
The 15 Largest Deserts in the World
A significant portion of the world is covered by deserts. Although it might seem like Africa and the Middle East are the only places with deserts, that’s not true. The largest deserts in the world are located on several continents and tucked away in places most people would not suspect. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the 15 biggest deserts in the world.
15. Kyzylkum Desert
The Kyzylkum Desert is a massive desert that exists in central Asia. Its name means Red Sand, and that’s rather accurate for the color of the sand in the area. This desert has warm summer months, cold nights, and then very cold winters. It’s the site of a lot of mining operations for precious metals, and people also use the vast land here to graze their livestock, especially camels.
14. Sonoran Desert
Although this may seem too close to the Great Basin and Mojave deserts to be its own, the Sonoran Desert of Sonora, California, and Arizona is distinct. This desert is a place where many Native Americans live and it’s home to many other legally protected areas. Also, this area has two seasons of rainfall, so it has more plant growth than any other desert out there!
13. Colorado Plateau
The Colorado Plateau is organized exclusively in the United States. It occurs in Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona, almost overlapping with the Sonoran Desert. A lot of the area is mountainous and inhospitable. Also, much of the area is protected as national parks, including the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park.
12. Karakum Desert
The name Karakum Desert means “black sand desert”. Although the sand might look light in color, below the surface is much larger sand. The desert covers a lot of Turkmenistan, and it is home to a lot of natural resources like oil and natural gas. The desert also has the Darvaza gas crater, a tourist attraction consisting of a natural gas crater that has been burning since the 1970s.
11. Great Basin Desert
The Great Basin Desert is the largest desert in the United States. This desert is the one that permeates Nevada and extends into Idaho, Utah, and parts of California. The desert is known for its incredible biological diversity and unique areas. For example, this desert includes Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats as well as plains that have unique plant life.
10. Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert is the largest desert in North America by area. This desert spreads across the western portion of Texas along with some of Arizona and New Mexico in the United States. The desert stretches into Mexico, too. The desert exists as a rain shadow desert; the mountainous area prevents moisture from coming into this area.
9. Syrian Desert
The Syrian Desert is almost interchangeable with the Chihuahuan Desert by size alone. However, this desert is located halfway around the world in several countries in the Middle East. This area has been home to historic settlements along the Euphrates River and the site of modern-day atrocities alike. The land tends to be open and flat, hot during the day and cool at night.
8. Patagonian Desert
Although it is one of the largest deserts in the world, it’s not one of the most popular. The desert is located entirely within Argentina, and it is believed to have been around for about 14 million years. Much of this desert is a result of the rain shadow effect due to the Andes Mountains to the west of the area.
7. Kalahari Desert
Although the Sahara gets the most attention for deserts in Africa, the Kalahari Desert is a sizable desert in the southern portion of the continent. The name comes from a term meaning “great thirst” and that is very apt for the type of climate that exists in this area. The Kalahari Desert is a very hot subtropical desert, but it’s still home to flora and fauna.
6. Gobi Desert
The Gobi Desert has significance as a large desert but also as a trade route stretching back over a thousand years as part of the Silk Road. The temperatures range from mild in the summer months to freezing cold in the winter with mean temperatures below freezing or far below freezing. Although this area is harsh and hard to survive in, it’s home to animals and was home to nomadic people throughout history.
5. Arabian Desert
The dunes of the Arabian Desert are the stuff of legends, with some of these sandy drifts reaching several hundred feet in height. Despite the difficulty of surviving in these areas, humans and animals alike live in this desert. Many cities like Dubai, Riyadh, and others are in this desert, showing that humans can find habitable places anywhere.
4. Great Australian Desert
Although some people split the Great Australian Desert into different sections, it’s often amalgamated into one. This is the fourth-largest desert, and it stretches over a million square miles. This desert is unusual in that it receives an above-average amount of rain along the perimeter but less so toward the interior. The desert has rocky, hilly areas, dunes, and flatter areas. The desert is very hot in the summer.
3. Sahara Desert
The Sahara Desert is the largest subtropical and hot desert that exists today. It stretches across vast portions of northern Africa, and it’s three times larger than the desert in Australia. Interestingly, that makes this desert the largest inhabited desert. Plans to stop the desertification of lands south of the Sahara are underway. However, only about 4% of the supposed “Great Green Wall” has been completed so far.
2. Arctic Desert
The Arctic Desert is at the most northern parts of Earth, comprising land from many nations. This area is simply vast, dwarfing even the Sahara Desert. Unlike that hot desert, the Sahara Desert is polar, very cold. This area has been explored and mapped throughout history. The arctic continues to be a site of concern in the battle against global warming and climate change as a whole.
1. Antarctic Desert
The largest desert is the Antarctic Desert. This area of the world is nearly 5.5 million square miles of desert land. It’s located in the southernmost reaches of the world and is not owned by any nation. However, it is governed by roughly 30 countries. This area of the world is incredibly cold and makes habitation nearly impossible when considering the lack of transportation and other features.
What Is the Driest Desert?
The driest desert is the Antarctic Desert. This desert receives a measly 1.9 inches of snow in the center of the desert throughout the year, but some parts of the desert receive no precipitation at all. By definition, the driest desert would be the one that receives the least amount of precipitation in the year. The Atacama Desert is a close runner-up as a true desert that receives 0.04 inches of precipitation. The Atacama Desert is also known to have gone up to 500 years without a single raindrop. Of course, the Sahara Desert is also very dry and only gets about 4 inches of rain every year in some places. These are the driest deserts that exist around the world today.
What is the Largest Hot Desert
The largest hot desert in the world is the Sahara Desert. While both the Arctic and Antarctic deserts are larger in size, they are cold deserts near the poles of the Earth. The Sahara Desert is more than 3X the size of the next closest hot desert, which is the Great Australian Desert.
Final Thoughts About the Largest Deserts in the World
The Antarctic Desert is the largest desert going only by the strict definition of the term. It’s just a bit larger than the second-largest desert, but much larger than the Sahara Desert. The vastness of these areas around the world shows just how much of the planet is downright inhospitable. Perhaps it should create a sense of urgency for people to take a look at the lush, habitable parts of the planet and work harder to protect them for the sake of all living things.
