Trade wind deserts are primarily formed where strong, dry winds heat up and clear the sky, leading to intense solar radiation and very little rainfall.
Trade wind deserts are a specific type of desert characterized by extremely low precipitation and high temperatures. Their formation is directly linked to the behavior of the global wind patterns known as trade winds.
The main feature of these deserts is that they are areas of very little precipitation and very high temperatures that occur where trade winds warm up and blow away cloud cover, causing the land to heat up vigorously.
Key Factors in Trade Wind Desert Formation
The process involves a few interconnected atmospheric phenomena:
- Trade Winds Warm Up: As trade winds move across large landmasses or descend from the atmosphere, they warm up. Warmer air is capable of holding more moisture, making it less likely to release precipitation.
- Blowing Away Cloud Cover: These persistent winds effectively prevent the formation of clouds or blow away any existing cloud formations. Clouds are essential for blocking solar radiation and producing rain. Their absence means clear skies.
- Intense Surface Heating: With no cloud cover to provide shade, solar radiation directly hits the ground. The lack of clouds also means that heat absorbed by the land during the day radiates back into the atmosphere efficiently at night, but the overall effect is intense daytime heating. This vigorous heating further contributes to low humidity near the surface.
The combination of these factors – warming, drying winds, clear skies, and intense solar heating – results in the characteristic conditions of trade wind deserts: extremely arid environments with minimal rainfall and significantly high temperatures.
