Page 334 - Geosystems An Introduction to Physical Geography 4th Canadian Edition

298 part II The Water, Weather, and Climate Systems
▼Figure 10.20 Major deserts and steppes. Worldwide distribution of arid and semiarid climates, with the world’s major deserts and steppes
labelled. [(a) Bobbé Christopherson. (b) Jacques Jangoux/Science source.]
80°
ARCTIC OCEAN
ARCTIC OCEAN
60° 50° 40° 30°
160° 10°
GREAT BASIN
ATLANTIC OCEAN
60°
50° 50°
40° 40°
30° 30°
KARA— KUM
LUT ARABIAN
GOBI
TAKLAMAKAN THAR
50°
PACIFIC OCEAN
Tropic of Cancer
40° 30° 20° 10°
0° 140° 130°
10° 20° 30° 40° 50°
120°
110° 100°
90°
SAHARA
0° 10°
SOMALI CHALBI
50°
ARABIAN SEA
60° 70°
BAY OF BENGAL
80° 90°
OCEAN
GREAT 20° SANDY
GREAT 30° VICTORIA
140° 150°
150° 160° 170°
CORAL SEA
70°
Arctic Circle
MOJAVE SONORAN
20°
PACIFIC OCEAN
CHIHUAHUAN
Tropic of Cancer
20° 10°
PATAGONIAN
WESTERN
Equator
Equator
INDIAN
10° 20°
PERUVIAN
10° 10°
120°
20° 20° ATACAMA 30° 30°
Arid 40° Semiarid 50°
20° 20° KALAHARI NAMIB
30° 30° 40° 40° 50° 50°
Tropic of Capricorn
30°
SIMPSON
20° 30°
(a) Mojave Desert, California.
(b) Atacama Desert, Chile.
precipitation in these climates is usually below 60 cm. Walgett, in interior New South Wales, Australia, pro- vides a Southern Hemisphere example of this climate (Figure 10.23). This climate is seen around the Sahara’s periphery and in the Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan region.
midlatitude Cold steppe Climates
The midlatitude cold steppe climates occur poleward of about 30° latitude and of the midlatitude cold desert climates. Such midlatitude steppes are not generally found in the Southern Hemisphere. As with other dry climate regions, rainfall in the steppes is widely vari- able and undependable, ranging from 20 to 40 cm. Not
A representative station is Albuquerque, New Mexico, with 20.7 cm of precipitation and an annual average temperature of 14°C (Figure 10.22). Note the precipitation increase from summer convectional showers on the climo- graph. This characteristic expanse of midlatitude cold desert stretches across central Nevada, over the region of the Utah–Arizona border, and into northern New Mexico.
tropical, subtropical
hot steppe Climates
Tropical, subtropical hot steppe climates generally exist around the periphery of hot deserts, where shift- ing subtropical high-pressure cells create a distinct summer-dry and winter-wet pattern. Average annual
40° 50°
40°
110° 120° 130° 140° 150° 160° 180°
0 1000 2000 3000 KILOMETRES
MODIFIED GOODE’S HOMOLOSINE EQUAL-AREA PROJECTION