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The largest desert in the world (including cold deserts) is?
A. The Sahara Desert
B. The Antarctic Desert
C. The Arabian Desert
D. The Gobi Desert
Correct Answer Is Option = The Antarctic Desert
Notes / Explanation
The largest desert in the world, when cold deserts as well as hot deserts are included, is the Antarctic Desert, which covers the frozen continent at the far south of the Earth. It is a common misunderstanding that a desert must be a hot, sandy place, but in fact a desert is defined not by its heat but by its dryness, that is, by the very small amount of rainfall or other precipitation that it receives. By this definition, a region that receives very little precipitation is a desert, whether it is hot or cold. The frozen continent at the far south of the Earth, although it is covered with ice and is extremely cold, receives very little precipitation, so that it is in fact a desert, and because of its enormous size, covering the whole of that vast continent, it is the largest desert in the world, larger than any of the hot deserts. This may be surprising, because the region is covered with a vast sheet of ice, but the ice has built up over an extremely long period from the small amounts of snow that fall, and the region remains, by the measure of its precipitation, a desert. The largest hot desert in the world, by contrast, is the great desert in the northern part of the continent of Africa, which is the largest of the hot, sandy deserts, and which is often thought of first when deserts are mentioned. So it is important to distinguish the largest desert overall, which is the cold Antarctic Desert, from the largest hot desert, which is the great desert of northern Africa. The frozen southern continent is a region of extreme cold, covered with ice, and it is important for science and for its effect on the climate of the world. The study of the deserts and the great regions of the world is a part of the geography of the world. For PPSC and other competitive examinations, the key points to remember are that the largest desert in the world, including cold deserts, is the Antarctic Desert, that a desert is defined by its dryness, that is, by receiving very little precipitation, rather than by its heat, so that a cold region receiving little precipitation is a desert, that the frozen southern continent is the largest desert in the world because of its enormous size and its low precipitation, and that this should be distinguished from the largest hot desert, which is the great desert in the northern part of Africa.
