ChemiCool

  Australia is a country within Oceania, the smallest continent on Earth. It is the 6th largest country, the largest island and often considered as the largest island continent. The country consists of a mainland territory, Tasmania, and many offshore islands. Surrounding the continent are the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Australia is indeed a distinctive continent with different climatic conditions and biomes across the country. On the mainland are found the deserts of Australia (also called the Great Australian Deserts). Collectively, these deserts are the 4th largest in the world coming after Antarctic, Arctic, and Sahara deserts. In this article, we shall have a good glance at the physics underlying formation of the desert climate. We shall see how oceanic water currents, air flows and heat transfer across the globe affect the climate of the mainland country. Due to harsh conditions, the deserts are largely void of human settlements and activities although there is evidence that abor