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More interesting perhaps than annual range is the normal daily range of temperatures in the tropical deserts. The maximum and minimum daily readings for the months of January and July at Phoenix, Arizona. is often as much as 35°F (22°C), the average daily range about 30°F (17°C). In no other climate does so great a daily range occur. This is explained by the rapid nightly heat loss from the ground and lowers layers because of the low water-vapour content of the air. On the other hand, isolation during the day is extremely intense and air temperatures soar to great heights. An all-time record range was recorded in Bir Milrha in the Sahara Desert, south of Tripoli, where 31°F and 99°F (-0.6°C and 37.2°C) were recorded on the same day, a range of 68°F (37.8°C).
2. Main article
The world's highest temperatures are recorded in certain parts of the continental tropical deserts. A world record maximum of 136.4°F (58°C) was officially observed in the shade under standard shelter at Azizia, Tripoli. In the extremely dry deserts (BWh), virtually the entire land surface appears to be free of vegetation and consists of bare rock, stream gravels and sands, or drifting dune sands. This does not mean that vegetation is wholly absent, rather, that the plants are thinly scattered over the surface and lack foliage to protect or obscure the bare ground. Desert plants are adapted to long drought periods by thick, fleshy leaves and stems, which store water for long periods of time but which do not permit loss of water through the surface.
3. References
Soils of the deserts are lacking in humus and are of a grayish or reddish colour, depending upon the type of iron compound present to produce staining. These soils contain excessive amounts of calcium carbonate and other salts, which are left near the ground surface by evaporating water. In the centres of shallow lakes, the salts concentrate to form white saltflats, entirely sterile and almost perfectly smooth.
Tropical steppe climate (BSh) borders the tropical deserts on both north and south, and in places on the east as well. Locally because of altitude, plateaus and high plains within what would otherwise be desert have the semi-arid steppe climate. Steppe zones lying equatorward of the deserts are transitional into the tropical wet-dry climate (Aw) and resemble it in many ways. Steppes on the poleward fringes of the tropical deserts grade into the Mediterranean climate (Cs) in many places. Steppes typically are grasslands of short grasses and other herbs, and with locally developed shrub and woodland. Soils are commonly of the brown soil and chestnut soil groups, containing some humus.
