Sahara Desert Facts For Kids | Hottest Desert Of The World

Sahara desert is the world’s hottest desert. The size of Sahara is almost equal to the size of China which makes it third biggest all over the world. It covers most of the area of Africa and extends from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. There are few sand dunes in Sahara that have a height of about just about 180 meters. Sand dune is basically a small mountain made up of sand. Now let’s have a look at some other Sahara desert facts for kids.

A Quick Guide To Sahara Desert Facts For Kids

Area: 9,400,000 sq. km

Highest Region: Emi Koussi

Lowest Region: Qattara Depression

Driest Region: Tanezrouft

Length: 4,800 kilometers

Width: 1,800 kilometers

Basic Sahara Desert Facts For Kids

Introduction

1. It is the hottest desert of the world.
2. It is the third biggest desert around the world.
3. It is the biggest desert of Africa. Majority of Africa is covered by this desert.
4. It is the biggest subtropical desert of the world.
5. The size of Sahara desert is just about the size of USA.
6. It is one of those places on earth that has the most unkind climate.
7. The driest part of Sahara desert is called Tanezrouft.
8. It is one of the most arid deserts around the world because the precipitation of Sahara is at a very low level.

Temperature

1. The average temperature of Sahara during summer is very high and varies from 38oC to 46oC.
2. The average low temperature of Sahara varies from 21oC to 29oC.
3. In the hottest regions of Sahara, the temperature can reach to more than 50oC for a very long time.

Sunshine

1. The area of the Sahara desert that receives maximum sunshine during the year is called Eastern desert. There are some regions in this desert that have more than 4,000 hours of sunshine per year. Thus, some places of Sahara are the sunniest regions around the world.
2. In Sahara desert, there are normally 10 hours of sunshine in a 24-hour day.
3. Sahara desert has the maximum insolation all over the world. Insolation is the amount of solar energy received by a specific part of the earth.

People

1. The Berber people are the most widespread ethnic groups that live in Sahara.
2. The Greeks came here in around 500 BCE.
3. From 1200 BCE to 800 BCE, the Phoenicians lived in this desert.

More Sahara Desert Facts For Kids

1. ‘Sahara’ is an Arabic-language word.
2. The highest mountain of Sahara is called Emi Koussi. It is 3,445 meters high. It is a volcano and stretches at almost 80 kilometers in width.
3. Almost 50 percent of the area of this desert receives not more than 20 mm of shower in a year.
4. There are about 2800 species of plants in Sahara desert. These plants are called tracheophytes. They are also known as Vascular plants.
5. Fennec fox and Pale fox are some of the species of fox that live on this desert.
6. The pattern of rainfall in Sahara is extremely irregular. If it rains, the amount of rain in 24 hours may exceed total amount of rain in one year. Conversely if it does not rain, it may continue to remain dry for years.
7. There are few sections of Sahara desert that are extremely dry so much so that they receive the lowest amount of shower by any area on Earth. This region of Sahara receives below 5 mm of shower and is located at the south of Egypt. That is why it is the driest area of Earth just like Atacama Desert.
8. Sahara is thought to be a genuine barren region on Earth. It is divided into three zones: arid, hyper-arid and semi-arid. The semi-arid zone is also known as Sahel.
9. There are some places on Sahara that have lowest relative humidity, staying below than 20 percent at all times.

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