What makes a tropical desert?

Tropical deserts are located in regions between 5 and 30 degrees latitude. Environment is very extreme. In addition to these extreme environmental and climate conditions, most tropical deserts are covered with sand and rocks, and thus too flat and lacking in vegetation to block out the wind.

What type of desert is the Sonoran Desert?

subtropical desert
In the United States, most of the Sonoran Desert can be found in the southern third of Arizona, with small areas in southeastern California. It is a subtropical desert and the most complex desert in North America.

Is Arizona a tropical desert?

Desert is the driest biome. Our center of interest is the Sonoran Desert. The other three North American deserts – the Mohave, Chihuahuan, and Great Basin, also occur in Arizona, the only state to have all four. It is intermediate between the desert and tropical forest biomes.

What makes the Sonoran Desert unique?

The Sonoran desert is the only natural habitat for this majestic plant. This giant cactus that can grow to 70 feet and live to be 150 years old. They bloom in the moonlight, when the gorgeous white flowers, actually the State flower of Arizona, are pollinated by bats.

What is the difference between a tropical desert and a temperate desert?

While many tropical deserts are sandy areas with dunes, low vegetation and a scarcity of water, temperate deserts are typically rockier regions, dotted with grasses and shrubs. Canyons, exposed bedrock and hoodoo formations are common features of the temperate desert.

What is the main characteristic of a desert?

The main characteristic of deserts is a shortage (or complete lack of) precipitation; some desert regions go for years on end without rain. Other characteristics of deserts include extremes of temperature and very little plant growth. The desert biome consists of species able to live in these inhospitable conditions.

Is the Sonoran desert a hot desert?

The Sonoran is a hot desert. Summer air temperatures routinely exceed 40°C (104°F), and often reach 48°C (118°F). Winter temperatures are mild, with valley bottoms typically free of frost, while the surrounding mountains may have dense snow cover at high elevations and north and east aspects.

Is the Sonoran Desert A High desert?

The Great Basin shrub steppe lies to the north; the warmer Sonoran Desert (the Low Desert) lies to the south and east. The desert is believed to support between 1,750 and 2,000 species of plants.

Is the Sonoran Desert A High Desert?

Why did the Sonoran Desert change?

Under the effects of climate change, the Sonoran Desert is expected to become hotter and drier. Higher temperatures may also increase the distribution and productivity of many cold-intolerant desert plants, including succulents.

Why is the Sonoran Desert Hot?

The Sonoran is a hot desert. Summer air temperatures routinely exceed 40°C (104°F), and often reach 48°C (118°F). These high near-surface temperatures interact with cool, moist air in the atmosphere to produce the violent thunderstorms of the summer monsoons.