One fifth of the earth's surface is covered in deserts. These areas often occur at low latitudes and record less than 20 inches of rainfall per year. Only specialized vegetation and vertebrate and invertebrate animals can live in desert areas due to the extreme temperature, lack of water and little shelter.
Deserts can be classified as either hot and dry, semiarid, coastal or cold. The most well known hot and dry deserts include the Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Mojave and Great Basin, all found in the United States. Others can be found in Southern Asia, South and Central America, Ethiopia and Australia. Semiarid deserts include the sagebrush of Utah, Montana and the Great Basin as well as parts of Newfoundland, Greenland, Russia, Europe and northern Asia. Coastal deserts are found in the Nearctic and Neotropical realm, such as the Atacama of Chile, while cold deserts are found in the Antarctic and Greenland.
Deserts are typically not the first choice for a vacation, yet many people long to see the miles of abandoned terrain, vegetation and animals unique only to these areas. So leave your water canteen and trekking supplies behind and let Great Big Canvas take you to over 900 amazing desert spots with their gallery wrapped prints.
