Coastal desert
Also called: West coast desert · Topic: World Climate Classification: Koeppen's Scheme · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 11 "World Climate and Climate Change"; Class 11, Ch 13 "Movements of Ocean Water"
Meaning
A coastal desert lies on the western edge of a continent in the subtropics, beside a cold ocean current. The cold water chills the air from below. Cold air near the ground cannot rise, so the air stays stable and no rain clouds form. Fog is common, but rain is almost absent. Because of this, the dry belt reaches the coast and comes closer to the equator than it would otherwise.
Example
The Atacama Desert on the coast of northern Chile and Peru lies beside the cold Humboldt (Peru) current. Other examples are the Namib (Benguela current), the coastal Sahara (Canary current), Baja California (California current) and Western Australia (West Australian current).
Don't confuse with
- Subtropical desert (BWh) of the interior: inland deserts such as the Thar are dry mainly because of sinking air under the subtropical high-pressure belt. A cold current is not the main cause there, and those deserts are hot, not foggy.
Related concepts
- Dry climates (B)
- Subtropical steppe climate (BSh)
- Subtropical desert climate (BWh)
- Mid-latitude steppe climate (BSk)
- Mid-latitude desert climate (BWk)