Myth vs Reality: Desert Life

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)

[UPTEMPO MUSIC]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

A blue hexagon appears in the middle of a gray background split into two halves by a line. A banner is outlined in light blue for the title, Myth vs Reality. An illustration with sea serpents surrounding a ship is above Myth. A satellite view of a rocky desert landscape is above Reality, a dark, rotating planet floats in the background at the bottom. The Myth side is highlighted. Text, All deserts are barren and lifeless.

 

The reality side is highlighted. Text, Some deserts support a wide range of life. The Sonoran Desert, in the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico, hosts more than 2,000 native plant species and more than 550 species of vertebrate animals.