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North American deserts

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Book cover Deserts and arid lands

Part of the book series: Remote Sensing of Earth Resources and Environment ((RSOE,volume 1))

Abstract

The deserts of North America are distributed over northern Mexico and the western United States between about 23° and 45° north latitude [Fig. 1]. They owe their existence to a combination of causes. The orographic [rain-shadow] effect is primarily responsible for the aridity of the Chihuahuan Desert. In the Great Basin, there is a winter maximum in rainfall. In the Chihuahuan Desert and the Sonoran Desert, the rainfall maximum comes in summer.

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© 1984 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague/Boston/Lancaster

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Dregne, H.E. (1984). North American deserts. In: El-Baz, F. (eds) Deserts and arid lands. Remote Sensing of Earth Resources and Environment, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6080-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6080-0_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-009-6082-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-6080-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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