Desertification 3 - Cold current effects and hot desert characteristics
Cold ocean currents can cause maritime (sea) winds to be cooled as they travel over the ocean.
Their capacity for moisture is reduced and this causes precipitation over the ocean itself. Sometimes, dense advection fog is formed. By the time the winds reach land, they are carrying little moisture, so it rains. The fog soon evaporates when it comes into contact with the warm surface.
Anything called maritime is to do with the seas and oceans.
Moisture is wetness.
Precipitation is rain.
Fog is when the clouds form right on the surface of the earth.
Fog
Evaporate means to become less dense and looks like it disappears.
Above is a map showing the cold current effect.
Cold waters from the antarctic flow up the side of the continent, and the clouds usually drop their moisture over the sea.
When the winds blow the clouds to the land, there's not much moisture left to fall as rain on that land, so places develop deserts.
Characteristics of hot deserts.
But why hot deserts? Aren't they all hot? No.
In the Arctic the desert is very VERY cold .
And that is because it's not really about temperature but about rainfall and conditions.
Here below is a chart showing the characteristics of hot deserts.
You can see that in the early and late months of the year, there's rain.
In the middle of the year, when that part of the earth directly faces the sun at about 90°, there's very little rain, and often none at all.
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