Myth vs Reality: Desert Climates

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 This short video addresses the misconception that all deserts are hot and dry.

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with the NASA Earth Observatory.

All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA
 
except:
·       Image of Antarctic snow dunes courtesy of Mark Fahnestock, University of Maryland, College Park
·       Sea creature illustration copyright The National Library of Israel, Shapell Family Digitization Project _and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Geography – Historic Cities Research Project
·       Image of clouds off Namibian coast courtesy of Chelys
·       Image of dunes in the Namib Desert courtesy of the USGS EROS Data Center Satellite Systems Branch
·       Namibian dune photo courtesy of Wikimedia user Alcazarfr
·       Photo of the Mandara Oasis in Libya courtesy of Rudolph Baumann
·       Photo of Astrophytum ornatum cactus courtesy of Wikimedia user Stan Shebs
·       Photos of desert plants courtesy of Wikimedia user Halfalah and Dr. Eric Christian (NASA)
·       Photo of fishhook barrel cactus courtesy of Susan Lynn Peterson
·       Photo of Ubari Oasis in Libya courtesy of Wikimedia user Sfivat
·       Image of alluvial fan in Takla Makan Desert courtesy of the USGS EROS Data Center Satellite Systems Branch
·       Photos of salt-covered croplands courtesy of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
 
Music courtesy of Associated Production Music
Written by Andrea Gianopoulos
Designed by Marc Lussier

(SPEECH)
[MUSIC PLAYING]
 
(DESCRIPTION)
Text, Myth Versus Reality. Myth, All deserts are hot and dry.
 
A table in which Myth is on the left and Reality is on the right.
 
Text, Reality, Deserts are characterized by a lack of precipitation and sparse to no vegetation. Antarctica, the coldest place on Earth, contains abundant water trapped in the form of ice, but it receives less than 2 inches of precipitation per year in the middle of the continent. With so little precipitation and almost no vegetation, Antarctica is the largest desert on Earth.