Articles of category "Arid climate"

The term "arid zone" is ascribed to three types of arid environment: hyper-arid, arid and semi-arid. Climates of these arid zones strongly depend on temperature fluctuations; time of the year, in which the rain falls (that determine dry and wet seasons), and a degree of aridity. There are Mediterranean, tropical and continental climatic patterns in arid areas.

Almost one-third of the total land area of the world is arid. The arid environment is distinguished by an excessive heat and inadequate, changeable precipitation, which occurs infrequently and irregularly. It is vegetated by drought resistant species, which have developed adaptation strategies to cope with the lack of rainfall. Although there is so much in common between different types of arid zones, arid environments are diverse in many aspects.