Beginning of Essay
Any barren region that supports very little life may be called a desert. The cold expanses of Antarctica, extreme northern Asia, and Greenland are therefore true, but cold, deserts. Most commonly, however, the term desert is used for regions that are barren becaus ....

Middle of Essay
.... summer. "Azizia, 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Tripoli, in Libya, holds the record with 136.4o F (58o C), while Death Valley, Calif., comes close with 134o F (56.7o C). "(Genius book of world records 2000) Winters are cold in middle-latitude deserts, located far from the equator. "At Luktchin in central Asia the average temperature in July is 90o F (32o C), while the January average is 13o F (-10.6o C)--a range of 77 Fahrenheit degrees (42.6 Celsius degrees)"(Compton's Encyclopedia). The temperature drops sharply in the desert night. Dry air, cloudless skies, and bare, dry earth furnish ideal conditions for the cooling of air after sunset. A ....