Desert
There are many different definitions which describe a desert. In general, arid areas (or deserts) are areas with low precipitation.
Desertification - a tendency toward more prominent desert conditions in a region ...
desertification: when an area begins to develop desert-like conditions due to lack of water, deforestation, overgrazing and over cropping.
dew: when liquid water from the atmosphere condenses on plants and objects near the ground.
Desert Climate
(Arid Climate) A climatic type which is characterized by insufficient moisture to support appreciable plant life.
Desert One of two types of dry climate-the driest of the dry climates.
Dew Water that has condensed onto objects near the ground when their temperatures have fallen below the dew point of the surface air.
Desert A land area so dry that little or no plant or animal life can survive.
Desertification The man-made or natural formation of desert from usable land.
arctic desert""Any area in the high latitudes dominated by bare rocks, ice, or snow, and having a sparse vegetation and a low annual precipitation." [from Glossary of Arctic and Subarctic Terms (1955)].
Desertification(4)
The progressive destruction or degradation of existing vegetative cover to form desert. This can occur due to overgrazing, deforestation, drought, and the burning of extensive areas.
In deserts, lack of ground and plant moisture that would normally provide evaporative cooling can lead to intense, rapid solar heating of the lower layers of air. The hot air is less dense than surrounding cooler air.
0 for deserts; negative values are also possible. It is named for Ira S. Bowen (1898-1978), an American astrophysicist.Box ModelA computer model used to calculate air pollution concentrations.
desertification The progressive destruction or degradation of vegetative cover especially in arid or semiarid regions bordering existing deserts.
Developed and patented by the National Center for Atmospheric Research of Boulder, Colorado, and the Desert Research Institute of Reno, Nevada. Humidity Water vapor content of the air.
It typically lies north-south across the central and southern high Plains states during the spring and early summer, where it separates moist air from the Gulf of Mexico (to the east) and dry desert air from the southwestern states (to the west).
There are dry convective storms, such as dust devils and dust storms, which are simply warm air rising or moving across desert or ground where dry air and surface heating is abundant.
Through the action of widespread and vigorous duststorms over places such as the Sahara, huge quantities of very fine desert sand can be carried to high enough levels (around 12000 ft/4000 m), ...
Because the displacement increases with distance, a horizontal surface, such as that of a body of water, desert, or road, ...
DRY LINE The boundary between the dry desert air mass of the Southwest U.S. and the moist air mass from the Gulf of Mexico. It usually lies north-south across the central and southern High Plains states during spring and summer.
Santa Ana Wind: A hot, dry desert, foehn-type wind blowing from the northeast or east in the pass and river valley around Santa Ana, California. The wind may blow with great force and carry large amounts of dust.
Climates "B" Dry Climates: Arid Deserts: North Africa:
Climates "C" Subtropical: Rainy, mild winters. Avg yearly temperatures 60 degs. F. Southern United States.
Climates "D" Temperate: Neither very hot or cold having the 4 seasons. Avg.
Backscatter relates to radar signals being reflected off targets other than precipitation such as aeroplanes, topography (mountains and hills), dust (for example, radars in a desert locatality may suffer from dust echoes), birds and swarms of insects.
Dustbusting techniques that have been tried and proven in such areas as the desert regions of California, include construction of barriers such as fences, planting of living windbreaks such as shrubs and trees, ...
Brickfielder: A wind from the desert in Southern Australia. Precedes the passage of a frontal zone of a low passing by. Has the same dusty character as the Harmattan. (Evert Wesker, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) ...
Dust Devil - Small whirlwinds of dust that form in dry areas like deserts. They may look like tornadoes, but dust devils are not formed by thunderstorms and do not drop from the sky.
Basically, a mass of very dry air called the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) forms over the Sahara Desert. The Saharan Air Layer picks up sand and dust particles which can act as cloud seeds as it continues movement westward toward the Atlantic.
5 meters deep, while some desert plants have roots that extend 20 meters into the ground). Plants pump the water up from the soil to deliver nutrients to their leaves.
Continental tropical air mass - hot dry air found in places like the Sahara desert.
Maritime polar air mass - cool wet air. Think England.
Continental polar air mass - cold dry air which sometimes produces snow.
Continental tropical air (cT) Warm, dry air mass that forms over the subtropical deserts of the southwestern United States.
Contrails Cloud-like streamers frequently seen forming behind aircraft flying in clear, cold, humid air.
NEWHALL WINDS
The local name for winds blowing downward from desert uplands through the Newhall Pass southward into the San Fernando Valley, north of Los Angeles.
In southern California, a weather condition in which strong, hot, dust-bearing winds descend to the Pacific Coast around Los Angeles from inland desert regions.
NOAA National Weather Service - Cite This Source - This Definition ...
SANTA ANA WINDS: Relatively warm, dry winds that blow into Southern California coastal areas from an anticyclone located over the high deserts of California or Nevada. The warmth and dryness are due to compressional heating. See also Diablo winds.
Santa Ana wind A warm, dry wind that blows into southern California from the east off the elevated desert plateau. Its warmth is derived from compressional heating.
Yellow Wind- a strong, cold, dry west wind of eastern Asia that blows across the plains during winter and carries a yellow dust from the desert.
Youg- a hot wind during unsettled summer weather in the Mediterranean.
Thermal lows weaken with height since the source of heating is at the surface. They commonly occur in desert regions in summer. They often do not produce precipitation since the air is very dry at the surface.
In the air, the droplets tend to bounce off each other. Dew is often associated with cold environments, but it also occurs in hot and humid regions. In desert areas, dew formation is a vital source of water for many plants and animals.
of heat energy used for sensible heating (conduction and convection) to the heat energy used for latent heating (evaporation of water or sublimation of snow). The Bowen ratio ranges from about 0.1 for the ocean surface to more than 2.0 for deserts; ...
This is very well demonstrated on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, where the coastal strip of hotels, palm trees and beaches adjoins a hot, dry desert to the west.
Santa Ana WindIn southern California, a weather condition in which strong, hot, dust-bearing winds descend to the Pacific Coast around Los Angeles from inland desert regions.
 See also: Air, Water, Weather, Cloud, Surface
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