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The Deserts at Night

Deserts are ecosystems characterized by extreme heat, sun exposure, intense temperature variation and a lack of water. Nighttime in the desert sees a quick cooling of the air temperature as the sun sets. Because of this extreme temperature change, many deserts come to life as nocturnal animals awake to hunt and feed.
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    • Deserts are characterized by an extreme lack of moisture, receiving less than 20 inches of rainfall a year. This extreme aridity makes for a unique ecosystem, with plants and animal adapted to survive intense sunshine, a lack of water and extreme temperatures. Because the desert cools rapidly at night, many animals are nocturnal in order to avoid the extreme heat. The topography of deserts is usually rocky terrain due to the lack of weathering in the desert. Sand dunes and rocky terrains are only found in a small portion of the earth's deserts. The largest hot desert in the world is the Sahara Desert, found in northern Africa, which has an area of over 3 million square miles and covers 12 countries.

    Formation

    • Many of the world's deserts are caused by rain shadows. Rain shadows occur when large mountains block the travel of precipitation and clouds. Deserts form on the lee side of these mountains. Additionally, salt flats found in bottomlands are also considered deserts.

    Temperature

    • One of the most distinctive features of the desert at night is the rapid cooling of the overall temperature. Moisture in the air helps to trap heat caused by the ultraviolet waves of the sun, which makes night and day temperatures less variable in damper climates. During the day, the lack of humidity prevents the blocking of the sun's rays causing the high temperatures. Due to the characteristic aridity of deserts, the heat of the day is released quickly into the atmosphere as the sun sets. Cloudless skies also help promote rapid cooling. Deserts lose twice the amount of heat at night when compared to other climates.

    Animals

    • Due to the extreme heat during the day, a large portion of a desert's wildlife are nocturnal. The types of nocturnal creatures found in deserts vary based on the type of desert, location and surrounding area. For instance, the Mojave Desert in southwestern California has a variety of nocturnal creatures including the antelope squirrel, coyote and mountain lion. Nocturnal animals found in other desert regions include the bilby and dingo of Australia, the cape hare found in Australia and the Middle East, and the fennec foxes of the African Sahara. During the day these animals sleep in burrows or natural formations to escape the extreme temperatures. As the temperature drops rapidly at night, they emerge to search for food.


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