The third largest desert in the world, and the largest non-polar desert is the Sahara. Situated in North Africa, the Sahara makes up parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara. The Sahara spans over 9,400,000 square kilometers across the continent, and is the world's hottest desert.
The Arabian Desert is the fourth largest desert in the world, with an area of about 2,330,000 square kilometers. The Arabian Desert is situatedon the Arabian peninsula, and makes up parts of Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Both theSahara and Arabian Deserts are known for their sand and sand dunes, which are typical images of desert landscapes.
The fifth largest desert on Earth is Asia's Gobi Desert. Situated in north western China and southern Mongolia, the Gobi Desert was created as a rain shadow from the tall Himalayan Mountains, which prevent rain from reaching Gobi.
The Kalahari Desert is a subtropical desert in southernAfrica, covering 900,000 square kilometers in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. The Kalahari Desert ranks sixth in terms of largest deserts by area in the world.
South America's Patagonian Desert is the seventh largest desert, at 670,000 square kilometers. The Patagonian Desert is located in Argentina and Chile, between the Andes Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.