Name two hot deserts and two temperate deserts in asia.How are the climate conditions in temperate deserts different from those in tropical desert?
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Answer:
Temperate deserts (or cold winter deserts) are geographically defined in different ways. Probably the most famous one is the climate classification after Köppen & Geiger (1961) with its definition BW (desert climate) k (cold in winter). Udvardy (1975) gives a more broad definition, which is the universal basis for the classification of UNESCO world heritage sites. Other commonly used definitions are given for instance by Rachkovskaya et al. (2003), Schröder (1998), Schultz (2002), Shmida (1985), or Walter & Breckle (1999).
All of them agree that temperate deserts are continental deserts, whose aridity is explained by its distance to oceans or their position in the rain shadow of larger mountain ranges. Therefore they are also called continental deserts. They are characterized by a distinct seasonal climate, with strong, long-lasting frost in winter and extremely hot summer, in combination with very low annual precipitation of less than 100 mm. The temperature of the cold winter deserts and semi-deserts fluctuates between -45°C and +50°C. While the temperate deserts of Central Asia have their maximum in precipitation in the winter months, the climate type of temperate deserts in Mongolia has its maximum in precipitation in the summer months.
The majority of deserts in Central Asia spreads over the lowlands of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, with its vast deserts Karakum (black sand), Kyzylkum (red sand), Muyunkum, Ustyurt Plateau and Aralkum (bottom of former the Aral Sea). The share of deserts of the total countries’ territory of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan is between 80-90%. In the Chinese province, Xinjiang the desert Taklamakan is located and in Mongolia the desert Gobi. 95% of all temperate deserts are found in Central Asia. Comparably small areas are located in the Great Basin of North America and in parts of Patagonia in South America.