World deserts are distributed discontinuously in two parallel belts situated roughly ______ North and South of the equator.
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Answer: A. 25
Explanation
Major world deserts are distributed in two broad latitudinal belts situated approximately 25 degrees North and South of the equator. Global atmospheric circulation cells create descending dry air masses centered near these specific subtropical latitude lines. Climatological data confirms that the major desert biomes of the world cluster closely around twenty five degrees latitude. Hadley cells are large scale atmospheric convection loops where warm moist air rises at the equator and descends subtropically. Descending dry air creates high pressure zones that inhibit cloud formation and suppress precipitation over vast land areas. Subtropical high pressure belts are responsible for creating the hyper arid conditions found in major global desert regions.
Option two suggests thirty degrees, which is a common approximate rounding but less accurate than twenty five here. Option three proposing thirty five degrees places the theoretical desert belt too far away from the primary descending air zones. Option four suggesting forty degrees falls outside the main subtropical high pressure bands responsible for equatorial desert zones.
- Subject
- Agriculture
- Category
- Forestry
- Topic
- —
- Difficulty
- medium
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