Radiative cooling, but more specifically [nocturnal surface cooling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiative_cooling#Nocturnal_surface_cooling).
On cloudless nights (where clouds absorb and in turn re-emit IR back to the surface) the surface can cool very quickly with very large deltaT (change in temperatures)
This happens elsewhere, not just in deserts. But deserts tend to be cloudless due to lack of regional water.
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