This week, my travels take me to city of Cairo in Egypt, on the edge of the Sahara Desert. The Sahara is the largest hot desert and third largest overall on the planet; only the Antarctic and Arctic are larger. My journey to this desert took me within 500 miles of the Tropic of Cancer, which runs East-West through nearly the middle of the Sahara. This location means that the Sahara was formed, primarily, due to sub-tropical equatorial air currents.
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| Eastern Sahara |
The Sahara is approximately 3.6 Million square miles, ranging from the sand dunes commonly associated with deserts to more rocky areas with sparse vegetation. The annual precipitation varies between the north and south fringes and the central region. Rainfall in the north, along the Mediterranean Sea, ranges from 4-10 inches. In the central Saharan, the average rainfall varies between less than 1 millimeter to as much 20 millimeters.
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| Galuzzi, Luca, Apr 7 2007, [photograph] |
The Sahara is the most well-known desert on Earth, but not the driest, largest, or oldest. It's central dunes have been used for photographs, movies, and scientific research. In addition, tribes of nomadic peoples have lived in various regions of the desert for centuries and will continue to inhabit this inhospitable region of the globe.
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