# Are there deserts in the ocean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-deserts-in-the-ocean/228340>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 9, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-deserts-in-the-ocean/228340 "2004-02-09T22:13:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-deserts-in-the-ocean/228340/1 "2004-02-09T22:13:12Z")

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I’m sure you’re all thinking that I’ve finally gone off the deep end, but this is a serious question. I know the ocean is made of water, so the whole desert thing is pert near impossible, but annual rainfall is also a requirement to being a desert. Are there areas in the ocean that receive less than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of sporadic rainfall annually? (From the M-W definition)

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**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-deserts-in-the-ocean/228340/2 "2004-02-09T22:17:05Z")

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Isn’t much of the arctic and, therefore, maybe parts of the Arctic Ocean, a desert by that definition?

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**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-deserts-in-the-ocean/228340/3 "2004-02-09T22:30:28Z")

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_After nine days I let the horse run free 'cause the desert had turned to sea  
There were plants and birds and rocks and things  
There was sand and hills and rings  
The ocean is a desert with it’s life underground  
And a perfect disguise above_

- America

In the ocean a better definition of desert might be areas of the ocean bottom where there is relatively sparse life. As a scuba diver it does often seem that there is an awful lot of nothing out there with the occasional oasis (reefs, ridges, etc).

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-deserts-in-the-ocean/228340/4 "2004-02-09T22:47:55Z")

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According to [this](http://www.tpub.com/content/aerographer/14312/css/14312_184.htm) website,

> [@](#):
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> Precipitation amounts [in the Arctic] are small, varying from 5 to 15 inches annually in the continental interior and 3 to 7 inches along the arctic coastal area and over the ice pack. The climate over the Arctic Ocean and adjoining coastal areas is as dry as some of the desert regions of the mid-latitudes.

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**Author:** ![Indefatigable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9d8465/32.png) [@Indefatigable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indefatigable)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-deserts-in-the-ocean/228340/5 "2004-02-09T23:33:13Z")

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In terms of just a region of open ocean, probably not. Deserts on land, as I understand it, are deserts because of some geological feature that directs weather patterns, such as a mountain range. A spot of open sea far away from everything wouldn’t have any reason for precipitating weather systems to avoid it.

If you have a mountain range close enough to a coast, and on the proper side of it weather-wise, you could have a desert with a beach. I want to say there are things like that on the west coast of South America. But I might just be misremembering my National Geographics.