Enduring the Hottest Temperatures in the Expanding Sahara

by Edwin Torres, age 12

The Sahara Desert is already known as the biggest desert in the world, yet it is still growing. It sits in northern Africa and stretches 3,200 miles from Sudan and Egypt in the East to the Western Sahara and Mauritania in the West.

The vast area of the Sahara has every kind of desert terrain, such as barren rocky plateaus, scrublands, and geological formations. Most of the desert is inland, and the widespread winds dry the air. Mountain ranges between the desert and sea make clouds rain for long periods. Cloudless skies allow the heat to escape into the atmosphere when the sun goes down, letting the temperature at night drop below zero.

One of the hottest places in the Sahara Desert is the town of Kebili, located in Tunisia. There, the temperature is high because of the scorching hot sun and the Sirocco, a dusty, hot wind that blows from North Africa across the Mediterranean to southern Europe.

The best-known areas of the Sahara are the dunes affiliated with the battles of North Africa during World War II. These regions of rolling waves of sand cover as much as 39,000 square miles.

The Sahara is excessively dry and cannot be cultivated, yet nomadic tribes still wander with a small flock of animals. A few oases have mixed farming, but most of the desert is economically unproductive.

Concern has grown about desertification, which has been happening around the Sahara Desert. The removal of native plants has led to fertile soil loosening and drying out due to the drought. Winds blow the soil like dust, leaving behind deserts where there were once crops.

[Source: 100 Great Wonders of the World]