The largest desert in the world: Top 10 list with images
Deserts have always drawn in many thanks to their impressive size and surprisingly diverse amount of life, each having its ecosystem. Some of the most extensive deserts globally can have the size of whole continents. So, what is the largest desert in the world? Here is the top 10 list.
Source: Getty Images
Deserts of the world have long served as an essential part of the Earth's ecosystem. These dry parts of the globe are vital habitats for unique animals and plants that thrive in harsh environments. Their dry conditions also aid in creating the formation and concentration of essential minerals.
The world's largest desert covers millions of square miles, with deserts making up 33% of the world's land surface area or 1/3rd of the world's land surface area. Which desert takes up the most amount of land? Here, we detail the biggest desert in the world, along with the other top nine.
Which is bigger, the Sahara or Antarctic Desert?
The Sahara and Antarctic deserts have long had reputations for their vast space and somewhat unforgiving conditions. Size-wise, the Antarctic surpasses the Sahara.
What is the hottest desert in the world?
According to MapQuest Travel, the Lut Desert in Iran is the hottest desert globally. On average, temperatures in the area can reach a scorching 70 degrees Celsius, or 159 degrees Fahrenheit.
What are the 10 largest deserts in the world?
So, what is the largest desert on Earth? Here are the top 10 biggest ones, according to WorldAtlas.
10. The Syrian Desert
Source: Getty Images
Size: 0.19 million square miles
Number 10 on the list is located in various parts of the globe. This desert extends northward over northern Saudi Arabia, eastern Jordan, southern Syria, and western Iraq. The unique landscape sees lava flows covering large areas and averages less than 125 mm of rainfall annually.
9. The Great Basin Desert
Source: Getty Images
Size: 0.19 million square miles
The Great Basin is a considerably-sized American desert that covers much of Nevada and Utah, extending into eastern California. The climate sees hot and dry summers with cold, snowy winters. It is prominently a shrub desert with many distinctive plant species.
8. The Kalahari Desert
Source: Getty Images
Size: 0.22 million square miles
Travelling back to Africa, the Kalahari is a significant semi-arid sandy savanna in the Southern region of Africa, covering a large area of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa. The site is basin-shaped, with a myriad of vegetation.
7. The Great Victoria Desert
Source: Getty Images
Size: 0.25 million square miles
Great Victoria is located in Australia and is the largest desert on the continent. The landscape is denser than others, filled with sand hills, Triodia (Spinifex) grass and salt marshes. The area has no permanent surface water, but limited claypans, rock holes, claypans and soaks hold some water during wetter periods.
6. The Patagonian Desert
Source: Getty Images
Size: 0.26 million square miles
Also known as the Patagonian Steppe, this desert is the biggest in Argentina. The Patagonian is a significantly cold winter desert. It has an average temperature of three degrees Celsius, and the region sees around seven months of winter and five months of summer.
5. Gobi Desert
Source: Getty Images
Size: 0.5 million square miles
The Gobi is a vast, cold desert and grassland area in northern China and southern Mongolia. The ample space has stunning mountain views, vast dunes and rare animals, including Bactrian camels and snow leopards. The Khongoryn Els dunes in the Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park are called singing dunes, making a distinctive noise as the wind blows.
4. Arabian Desert
Source: Getty Images
Size: 1.0 million square miles
The Arabian desert in Western Asia sees vast wilderness and takes up a massive portion of the Arabian Peninsula. Not only is it the fourth largest desert in the world, but it is the largest desert in Asia and is an extension of the Sahara Desert over the Arabian Peninsula. The desert has a hot, dry and subtropical climate.
3. Sahara Desert
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Size: 3.5 million square miles
The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world, at a whopping 3.5 million square miles. It fills almost all of northern Africa with harsh conditions. The average yearly temperature is 30 degrees Celsius, with the highest temperature recorded to date being 58 degrees Celsius. It gets less than one inch of rain yearly, and temperatures can reach lows of -6 degrees Celsius.
2. Arctic Polar Desert
Source: Getty Images
Size: 5.4 million square miles
Surprisingly, the top two most significantly-sized deserts are covered in ice. The Artic comes in at number two, with a size of 5.4 million square miles. Besides vast, open areas of ice as far as the eye can see, you can also expect to see animals limited to the polar regions, like the beluga whale, musk ox, and arctic fox.
1. Antarctic Polar Desert
Source: Getty Images
Size: 5.5 million square miles
The largest desert in the world is the Antarctic desert, covering a massive amount of ground. It covers the entire continent of Antarctica, along with the ice-covered areas of the Southern Ocean that lay around it. At 5.5 million square miles, this remains the largest desert on the list.
The largest desert in the world shows that each desert on our planet can be vastly different to the next, with some seeing snow and others hardly seeing any water. But each is integral to the planet's ecosystem and is home to unique flora and fauna.
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