deserts key terms

desert

barren land that receives less than 10 inches of precipitation per year

trade winds

wind patterns that move from east to west near the equator due to global wind patterns

rain shadow

deserts impacted by mountains

polar deserts

cold deserts that receive little to no precipitation

angle of incidence

angle made by ray of sunlight shining on earth’s surface

hadley cell

cell of circulating air closest to equator, the sun heats the air and creates tropical rain

ferrell or midlatitude cell

cell of circulating air between equator and poles, drying air sinks and creates horse latitudes(high pressure/dry air)

polar cell

cell of circulating air near poles, cold, extremely dry air, almost no sun

latitude

distance in degrees north or south from the equator

atacama desert

driest non-polar desert on earth, located in Chile west of the Andes mountains

great basin desert

largest area of interior drainage in North America

coriolis effect

deflection of air/water masses due to earth’s rotation

desert varnish

unique weathering product in deserts, “rock rust”

loess

deposits of windblown dust

creep

when wind velocity is high enough to slide/roll materials across earth’s surface

yarding

erosional rock face caused by sand abrasion

ventifact

rock with abraded surfaces formed in deserts

blowout

bowl-shaped depressions remaining on the surface after wind erosion takes place

alluvial fan

triangle shaped deposits of sediment from streams as they emerge into valleys

bajada

groups of mutiple alluvial fans

inselberg

mountains burried in sediment deposits

playa

dry lake beds

inermittent or ephemeral

streams that contain water only after rain storms

flash floods

flooding of ephemeral rivers

arroyo

erg

deserts with sand

barchan dune

star dune

where wind direction is variable in all directions

basin and range

desert in middle of US resulting from a rain shadow

pluvial lake

desertification

process of an area becoming a desert

climate

long term weather conditions of an area

subtropical deserts

from lots of evaporation near the equator

costal desert

deserts along a coast due to heat

continental interior

areas far from water sources