The gases we have in our atmosphere called greenhouse gases are ever-present and help to keep our planet at a constant and livable temperature. Over the course of history, we have pumped a lot of these gases into the atmosphere in the form of carbon and fossil fuels. This has caused the temperature to rise. Global warming is about a serious a threat as there is.

It’s already started to affect many regions and ecosystems on our planet, and will affect a lot more in our own lifetime. The ice caps have already begun to melt, causing water levels to heat and rise through thermal expansion. The amount of carbon in our atmosphere is killing the coral reefs, wiping out entire ecosystems and biodiversity. And this is just the start; what we’re already seeing today.

Global warming brings on a complete climate change. No matter if it’s in the long-term or short-term, this is also affecting the earth’s desert regions. Deserts rose in temperature between 1978 and 2000, at an average rate of 0.2-0.8 degrees Celsius. This rate is much higher than what could have ever occurred naturally. This meteoric rise has been attributed to the increase in the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases. The ensuing global warming is expected to cause an overall increase in rainfall. High latitudes are projected to warm more than mid to low-latitudes, resulting in more rainfall in higher, less rainfall in the subtropics.

While the anthropogenic warming of the global atmosphere is already sufficiently warming and drying deserts; deserts cool the neighboring global atmosphere. This is a state that is also projected to further intensify due to the global warming phenomenon.

The warming takes place due to the direct reflection of solar radiation by the earth’s surface from the desert. In contrast to the direct cause of enhanced warming, the actual effect of deserts is that they’re cooling the atmosphere. Though this is quite the paradox, it is actually simple to comprehend. Desert regions and their surrounding geographical locations all have ecosystems which thrive in their own environment. Any degree change, plus or minus, grossly upsets the balance of nature.

Deserts make up one quarter of the earth’s land surface, so it is a situation that much be assessed. To do this, scientists look at the carbon storage which is sequestered in organic and inorganic compounds within the desert soil. It is the organic carbon that is most sequestered when the rainfall permits. Studies are being done that are returning the same results in every desert region. Deserts and hot and bare places, no one seems surprised that they’re slightly rising in temperature. But just as a few degrees melts the ice caps and changes the world, so will a few degrees in the desert region.

There is a lot more at stake than just some dried up land which is, for the most part, uninhabited. Millions of peoples’ lives are ultimately controlled by the temperature of the desert. If they change at all, the surrounding areas will indeed suffer. Deserts are the home to vast ecosystems. Underneath the dry sand and clay, life is thriving there and needs the climate that it evolved in to survive in.