Games

A ten-question quiz, eight myth-or-fact cards, and a five-step walk through a rain shadow. The answers follow the same sourced wording as the rest of the site.

Quiz

Approximately how much of the Earth's land surface does USGS call desert?

In Meigs's system, as reported by USGS, arid lands have:

Sand covers about what share of the Earth's deserts, according to USGS?

USGS says the Sahara of North Africa has experienced temperatures as high as:

The British Antarctic Survey says snowfall in Antarctica is equivalent to:

In the United States, which desert receives its precipitation in winter?

When 9 years old, a saguaro is about:

NASA says Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, spans about:

The Met Office says annual average temperatures in the Gobi Desert can be:

More people, according to USGS, drown in deserts than:

Myth or fact?

All deserts are seas of sand.

Deserts are always hot.

Antarctica cannot be a desert because it is covered in ice.

More people drown in deserts than die of thirst.

Saguaro may live 200 years.

It never rains anywhere in the Atacama.

Polar deserts are not deserts, because they are cold.

Desert storms can be violent.

How a rain shadow forms

Step 1

A moist wind meets a mountain range.

Tall mountain ranges can stand in the way of moisture-rich clouds.

Step 2

The air is forced to rise.

As the air rises, it cools, and water is precipitated on the windward side.

Step 3

The air loses its moisture.

USGS: as air rises over the mountain, water is precipitated and the air loses its moisture content.

Step 4

A desert forms on the lee side.

Rain shadow deserts form on the lee, or protected, side of the range.

Step 5

The Atacama is one example.

NASA: the Andes cause a rain shadow that results in minimal precipitation in the Atacama region of Chile.