Why Deserts Are Cold at Night?

The temperatures in the Sahara Desert drop to 42 ° C (75 ° F) overnight. If you plan a daily trip to the Sahara Desert in North Africa; You will need to take plenty of water and sunscreen with you. But if you are thinking about spending the night there is also good to take a comfortable sleeping bag with you. The reason for this is that the temperatures in the Sahara are reaching up to 38 ° C throughout the day and the sun can get down to -4 ° C overnight during the sunset.

So what is the reason for this dramatic temperature change in arid deserts such as Sahara? How do domestic animals and plants deal with such extraordinary changes? The planet we live on is an amazing place. But have you ever wondered how or why these are? How has the world been? How are we able to guess the weather? How are fossils formed? What causes earthquakes or which animals shine in the dark? “Incredible Earth” with gorgeous photos and understandable diagrams, answers to these questions and more; It is on an amazing journey by showing everything you need to know about our world!

Heat and moisture

These arid deserts, which are dry areas that covers approximately 35% of the world’s land, then the cause of the two basic factors are combined; sand and moisture. Unlike a thermos, the sand cannot protect the heat very well. According to a 2008 report published by NASA in Pasadena, California, the Heat of Heat from the Sun, and the sand grains in the top layer of the desert when the sun is hit by a sandy desert, and then returns to the air. Throughout the day the radiation that the sand receives from solar energy is overwhelming the air and causes the temperatures to rise. But most of the sand in the sand at nights quickly pass into the air. And since there is no sunshine to reheat him, the rapidly spreading heat, sand and its surroundings are colder than the oldest.

However, this argument cannot explain a violent decline in the temperature alone. As a result, you do not need to wear your winter coat when the sun goes on a tropical beach. The main cause of hard temperature change is that the desert air is extremely dry. Moisture in arid deserts such as the Sahara and Atacama desert in Chile (the amount of water in the air) is almost zero. And in contrast to the sand, the water has an enormous heat storage capacity.

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According to the World Atlas, the water vapor in the air traps the heat close to the place as a giant invisible blanket. And prevents spreading to the atmosphere. If the air with high humidity is to warm up, more energy is required, so it is necessary to dissipate this energy and cool to cool the environment. Therefore, the deficiency of moisture in the deserts leads to quick warming of these arid places and to cool quickly at the same time.

Adaptation to extreme temperatures

Despite these rapid temperature fluctuations, desert animals have been adapted to the excess temperature changes of the desert. A Environmental Physiologue Specializing on Desert Animals at Arizona State University Dale Denkardo: “This situation tends to be a relatively small problem for them.” he means. “A bigger problem for them is to find enough food and water to survive.”

The reptiles in the desert are most and various groups of animals, they have been adapted to excessive temperature changes because they are cold-blooded or “ectothermic”, which means that they do not have to spend energy to protect a fixed body temperature. In other words, the reptiles use this energy in other places such as hunting. Most reptiles use the advantage of being small as they find the shadowy places in the day or more hot rocks at night.

“There are many different places to go to warm up or cool while you are small.” der Denkardo. However, endothermic mammals such as large hot mammals or camels are too large to hide from the sun and cannot make the body temperatures fall.

On the contrary, the camels survive maintaining constant body temperatures in both hot and cold conditions. Denardo said they have done so many insulations in the form of fat and thick fur, which means that their day to gain a lot of heat and lose a lot of nights at night.

In contrast, desert birds use a number of different methods using the evaporated cooling using the water using the water to remove the heat from the body, such as sweating or breathing dogs. However, the ability to fly long distances between the water resources or gathering food, other desert animals, such as other desert animals, such as other desert animals. Denarko, “I say cheating to it because they don’t really experience the limits of a desert.” said. Plants are more vulnerable to extreme temperatures.

Denarko: “The plants are facing a much larger challenge for not moving.” said. Therefore, Iconic desert plants such as cacti; It has developed a series of defenses such as pointed flips and toxins to protect their valuable water from hunters. However, freezing temperatures at night are fatal for plants. Because water freezes and expands in tissues; This causes non-return damage. Therefore, the plants only grow in areas known as the “freezing line” in which the air temperature does not fall below the freezing point for more than a few hours.

Climate change

The researchers still try to figure out how the climate change can affect the arid places and organisms. But Denarko: “We will definitely see changes.” said. “For most deserts, we foresee an increase of 1.7 and 2.2 ° C at temperature.” However, according to the research “nights will be warmer but this is not as bad as the days are hotter.”

Instead, the main problem is that the climate change can affect the amount of rainfall in the desert of desert living. Denarko: “The climate will become less consistent, it will be relatively wet years and relatively dry-dry years. However, even if most are wet enough, it will be enough to form a year of great problems that are really dry.”