Sahara is the largest desert in the world. Filling nearly all of northern Africa, it measures approximately 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from east to west and between 800 and 1,200 miles from north to south and has a total area of some 3,320,000 square miles (8,600,000 square km); the actual area varies as the desert expands and contracts over time. The Sahara is bordered in the west by the Atlantic Ocean, in the north by the Atlas Mountains and Mediterranean Sea, in the east by the Red Sea, and in the south by the Sahel—a semiarid region that forms a transitional zone between the Sahara to the north and the belt of humid savannas to the south.
The Sahara is dominated by two climatic regimes: a dry subtropical climate in the north and a dry tropical climate in the south. The dry subtropical climate is characterized by unusually high annual and diurnal temperature ranges, cold to cool winters and hot summers, and two precipitation maximums. The dry tropical climate is characterized by a strong annual temperature cycle following the declination of the sun; mild, dry winters; and a hot dry season preceding variable summer rains. A narrow strip of the western coastal zone has a relatively cool, uniform temperature reflecting the influence of the cold Canary Current.
Credit : Britannica
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