2022-08-03 08:02:45
Desert mainly refers to a barren area where the ground is completely covered with sand, vegetation is rare, rainfall is extremely scarce, and the air is hot and dry. Deserts cover up to a third of Earth’s land area and are considered the driest ecosystems on the planet. The average rainfall in the desert is usually less than 25 cm per year. Deserts are considered to have harsh habitats.
Deserts have harsh habitats
In fact, even growing plants or anything in the desert sand is very difficult. Because some deserts on Earth can lose 33 times as much water as they get. This happens through the processes of evaporation and transpiration.
Lack of water must be the impression many people have of deserts. The land is also seriously deserted.
The hot and dry desert seems like a very difficult place to live. However, the reality is that more than 1 billion people live in such deserts. They are also prepared to deal with the harsh desert climate.
However, if someone accidentally got stuck in the desert without any preparation, what would happen?
In the desert, the temperature can reach 38 degrees Celsius. As a result, dehydration will happen much faster. In fact, in a hot environment, people can lose 1-1.5 liters of sweat per hour. So, without water to compensate for this loss, the cells in the body will shrink, the brain can swell, and especially the joints can function abnormally.
When people lose too much water and cannot sweat, body temperature will not be regulated. Eventually, organs like the kidneys stop working.
It can be seen that dehydration is very dangerous for humans, especially when accidentally stuck in the desert.
The Sahara Desert is one of the driest places on Earth today. Photo: Texas A&M University
The Sahara is considered one of the most famous deserts in the world and is home to extremely harsh conditions for living things. When it comes to the Sahara desert, people’s first impressions are barren and lifeless. Additionally, temperatures in deserts like the Sahara can drop by as much as 42°C overnight. The cause of such a large temperature difference is sand and air humidity.
Summer in the Sahara Desert is very hot with very little rainfall. So, for most creatures, this place seems to be an absolute “no-go zone” for life.
Strange desert, 300 times more rain than Sahara
So, the desert not only has an adequate water source, but also has a lot of shrimp and fish that really exist?
The answer is yes. This is also one of the strangest deserts in the world.
It is the Lençóis Maranhenses desert in Brazil. This desert not only has a large water source, but even shrimp and fish can live. In 1981, the Brazilian government decided to establish a national park here, with an area of about 1,500 square kilometers.
The Lençóis Maranhenses desert is very strange. In particular, every year, during the rainy season, the valleys between the dunes are filled with rainwater and gradually develop into small lakes of blue or emerald color. This inadvertently creates a stunning sight.
This aerial shot shows sand and water creating a striking visual contrast in the Lençóis Maranhenses desert. Photo: Adobe Stock
Lençóis Maranhenses desert has many lakes, rainfall here is also very abundant because of its unique geographical location.
The most distinctive feature of the Lençóis Maranhenses desert is the appearance of the annual rainy season. It is thanks to the abundant rainfall that many small lakes are formed throughout this desert. The average annual rainfall in the Lencois Maranhenses desert is 1,600 mm. This number is 300 times higher than that of the Sahara.
The Lençóis Maranhenses desert has many lakes. Photo: Adobe Stock
The reason the Lençóis Maranhenses desert has so much rainfall is due to its geographical location near the coast, near the Amazon, the largest tropical forest in the world. On the other hand, due to its proximity to the equator, in addition to being influenced by the equatorial low pressure belt, this desert is also influenced by the northeast trade winds and southeast trade winds.
In particular, a large amount of sea sand was blown inland, causing the Lençóis Maranhenses desert to continue to be stretched inward. To date, this desert has stretched for about 50 km and today it continues to move inland at a rate of about 20 cm per year. The Lençóis Maranhenses desert consists mainly of white sand dunes and salt lakes.
Fish and shrimp can live in lakes in the Lençóis Maranhenses desert. Photo: suitcasemag
Looking down from above, the area of large lakes is even larger than that of the desert. The amount of water is therefore also more than sand. Since the lakes in the desert are all salt water, even more fish can live here during the summer months.
Specifically, thanks to heavy rainfall, many fish can thrive in the rainy season in the Lençóis Maranhenses desert, and in the dry season, they choose to burrow into sandy soil to hibernate.
In addition to fish and shrimp, due to the suitable temperature, there are also many species of birds, turtles and other animals that congregate in small lakes in the middle of the desert.
Moreover, the temperature during the rainy season in Lençóis Maranhenses is also very different from other deserts. Specifically, instead of extreme heat, the Lençóis Maranhenses desert is provided with cooling from the lakes.
Meanwhile, in the dry season (from July to December), Lençóis Maranhenses transforms no different from ordinary deserts, especially the small lakes here will be narrowed, even dry. shallow.
Every year, the Lençóis Maranhenses desert attracts a large number of tourists to visit and see the unique beauty in the world.
Source referenced article: NatGeo, Nature, Life
