MAJOR DESERTS OF THE WORLD UPSC

A desert is a landscape or region that receives very little precipitation - less than 250 mm per year (about ten inches).
Approximately 1/3 of Earth's land surface is a desert.
There are four different types of deserts based upon their geographic situation:
- polar deserts,
- subtropical deserts,
- cold winter deserts, and
- cool coastal deserts.

Major Deserts of the World
Name	Type of Desert	Surface Area	Location
Antarctic	Polar	5.5 million mi²	Antarctica
Arctic	Polar	5.4 million mi²	Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia
Sahara	Subtropical	3.5 million mi²	Northern Africa
Arabian	Subtropical	1 million mi²	Arabian Peninsula
Gobi	Cold Winter	500,000 mi²	China and Mongolia
Patagonian	Cold Winter	260,000 mi²	Argentina
Great Victoria	Subtropical	250,000 mi²	Australia
Kalahari	Subtropical	220,000 mi²	South Africa, Botswana, Namibia
Great Basin	Cold Winter	190,000 mi²	United States
Syrian	Subtropical	190,000 mi²	Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia
Chihuahuan	Subtropical	175,000 mi²	Mexico
Great Sandy	Subtropical	150,000 mi²	Australia
Kara-Kum	Cold Winter	135,000 mi²	Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan
Colorado Plateau	Cold Winter	130,000 mi²	United States
Gibson	Subtropical	120,000 mi²	Australia
Sonoran	Subtropical	120,000 mi²	United States, Mexico
Kyzyl-Kum	Cold Winter	115,000 mi²	Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan
Taklamakan	Cold Winter	105,000 mi²	China
Iranian	Cold Winter	100,000 mi²	Iran
Thar	Subtropical	75,000 mi²	India, Pakistan
Simpson	Subtropical	56,000 mi²	Australia
Mojave	Subtropical	54,000 mi²	United States
Atacama	Cool Coastal	54,000 mi²	Chile
Namib	Cool Coastal	13,000 mi²	Angola, Namibia, South Africa

The two largest deserts on Earth are in the polar areas.
The Antarctic Polar Desert covers the continent of Antarctica and has a size of about 5.5 million square miles.
The second-largest desert is the Arctic Polar Desert.
It extends over parts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. It has a surface area of about 5.4 million square miles.