Desert climate

An arid climate with very low precipitation, where evaporation typically exceeds rainfall and sparse vegetation is adapted to water scarcity.

Hadley cell: A tropical atmospheric circulation cell in which air rises near the equator and sinks in the subtropics. Its descending, drying air helps form many subtropical deserts.
Aridity: A climatic condition in which water supply from precipitation is persistently low relative to atmospheric demand. Desert climate is an especially dry form of aridity.
Desertification: Land degradation in drylands that reduces biological productivity and can expand desert-like conditions. It is land degradation, not simply the existence of a naturally arid climate.
Hot desert climate: A desert climate with high temperatures, especially during its warm season. It is one major thermal subtype of desert climate.
Rain shadow: A dry region on the downwind side of a mountain range, created when mountains remove moisture from passing air. It explains desert climates far from subtropical high-pressure belts.
Precipitation: Water released from the atmosphere that reaches Earth's surface as rain, snow, or other forms. Its scarcity is the defining climatic constraint in deserts.
Desert ecology: The study of organisms and ecological processes in desert environments. It examines how life responds to the climate's severe water limits.
Cold desert climate: A desert climate with cold winters or generally low temperatures despite very low precipitation. It shows that deserts are defined by dryness, not heat.
Subtropical ridge: A belt of persistent high atmospheric pressure near 30 degrees latitude in both hemispheres. Its sinking air suppresses clouds and rainfall across many deserts.
Evapotranspiration: The transfer of water to the atmosphere through evaporation and plant transpiration. High atmospheric demand can deepen desert water deficits.

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