Ryn Desert
{{Short description|Desert region of European Russia and Kazakhstan}}
{{more footnotes|date=February 2008}}
{{Expand Russian|topic=geo|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox landform
| name = Ryn Desert
| other_name = Нарын құмы / Рын-пески
| type = Desert
| photo = Ryn Desert.jpg
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| photo_caption =Ryn Desert area NASA image
| map = Kazakhstan#Russia Astrakhan Oblast
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The Ryn Desert or Ryn-Peski Desert ({{langx|kk|Нарын құмы}}, Naryn-Qūmy; {{langx|ru|Рын-пески}}) is a desert in western Kazakhstan and Astrakhan Oblast, Russia.
Geography
File:Карта Внутренней Киргизской Орды 1842.jpg
It is located north of the Caspian Sea and southeast of the Volga Upland. The borders of the desert are very loosely defined. Some maps show the desert almost entirely within the Caspian Depression, stretching almost to the coast of the Caspian Sea, while others show it north of the depression. It lies west of the Ural River between 46° N and 49° N latitude, and 48° E to 52° E longitude.
Many small towns are scattered throughout the Ryn Desert, and population density is between 1 and 15 people per square mile. Aralsor lake lies at the northern edge.{{cite web|url=https://maps.vlasenko.net/smtm1000/m-3943.jpg|title=M-39 Topographic Chart (in Russian)|access-date=29 July 2022}}
Climate
The desert lies in a semi-arid climate zone, and receives very little rainfall.{{cn|date=November 2023}}
Temperatures can reach extreme highs of {{convert|45|to|48|°C}} during summer and in winter they can drop to a low of {{convert|-28|to|-36|°C}}.{{cn|date=November 2023}}
High winds sweep across the desert, and in 2001 a dust storm in the Baltic Sea was determined as originating in the Ryn Desert. A study of long-range dust transportation to the Baltic Sea region—by analyzing dust pollution in Scandinavia, showed that aerosol concentrations there were influenced more by the Ryn Desert region than the Sahara Desert in Africa.International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2004 - Vol. 22, No.1/2 pp. 72 – 86. ISSN 0957-4352
See also
- Caspian lowland desert ecoregion
References
{{reflist}}
- DK World Atlas, Millennium Edition, pgs. xxv, xxix, 258 {{ISBN|978-0789446046}}
- [http://www.historytoday.com/john-etty/russia%E2%80%99s-climate-and-geography Russia’s Climate and Geography] History Today
{{Regions of Europe|state=collapsed}}
{{Deserts}}
Category:Deserts of Central Asia