Here's Why It Gets Super Cold At Night In Sahara Desert

Why do temperatures in the Sahara Desert shift so dramatically and how do the flora and fauna adapt to extreme changes?

The Sahara Desert in Africa has extreme temperature variations between day and night.

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Temperatures in the Sahara can plummet once the sun sets, from an average high of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) during the day to an average low of 25 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 4 degrees Celsius) during the night, according to NASA.

According to a Live Science report, heat and humidity are the main contributing factors in temperature variations. Sand gets hot really fast and so when the sun is shining bright, it absorbs all the heat directed at the surface. The light substance is also great at reflecting the heat into the surrounding air, making it super-hot.

Also Read: How Solar & Wind Farms In The Sahara Desert Can Make It A Green Paradise With Regular Rainfall

During the day, sand's radiation of the sun's energy superheats the air and causes temperatures to soar. However, at night most of the heat in the sand quickly radiates into the air and when there's no sunlight temperature of the surroundings start to drop dramatically.

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As explained in the Science Times, the main reason for stark temperature changes in deserts is the dryness of the air and arid deserts such as the Atacama Desert and the Sahara Desert have virtually zero humidity thus the amount of water vapor in the air and water has more capacity to trap heat than sand.

Also Read: NASA Found 1.8 Billion Trees In Sahara Desert And How It Will Help Eco-Conservation

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Desert animals are well adapted for the desert's extreme temperature changes. "It tends to be a relatively small problem for them," the Live Science quoted Dale DeNardo, an environmental physiologist at Arizona State University who specializes in desert animals as saying, "The bigger challenge is getting enough food and water to survive."

Also Read: Most Dangerous Place In History Of Earth Is Inside Sahara Desert, As Per New Study

Cold-blooded reptiles here are smaller; so, they can find warm nooks at night or cool shades during the day. Camels, who are warm-blooded, have a form of fat and thick fur—this way they don’t heat up too much during day and don’t freeze at night. Birds here use ‘evaporative cooling’ by using water to transfer heat away.