Why specifically does the Northern part of Africa have desert land? I’m assuming it’s on the same geographical level as other countries that have no desert at all?
In: Physics
Desert regions are mid latitudes, about 30 degrees from equator both, north and South and towards the west of land masses. The Sahara is lined up with the American deserts Sonoran and Chihuahua. The Mohave and great basin deserts also in America is lined up with Gobi and Turkestan desert. Australian desert lines up with Namib and Chilean desert.
This happens because sunlight warms the air at the equator, causing it to rise. As air rises away from the Earth, it cools.
Cool air can’t hold as much water as warm air, so this air has to start getting rid of the water it is carrying. Rain clouds form above the equator and then pour down rain, this creates the tropics.
The cool air has dumped most of it’s rain, so what is left is cool dry air, that moves away from the equator and as it sinks it warms up again. The warm air can hold more moisture so the dry are starts to pull moisture from the land through evaporation which causes the deserts.
Also Africa is not a single country.
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