Desert

Introduction[]

By definition, a desert planet is one that is mostly or completely desert - a world with a hot, arid climate and scarce precipitation. The main feature that determines if a planet can be considered a desert world is the lack of significant amounts of liquid water on the surface. It would be wrong to assume that water is completely absent from desert planets, however. It often subsists under the surface as ground water or inside permanent polar ice caps. The distinction between desert planet and terran planet is also not as absolute as one would think. Many dry worlds have had large oceans at some point in their geological history. Several factors can lead to desertification processes that will transform planets from acqueous into barren desertic worlds. Despite the harsh conditions that persist on the surface of dry worlds life is not unlikely to be found on them. In fact they often have a broader habitable zone than watery planets, as the occurence of greenhouse effects at high temperatures and the coating of the surface with water ice at low temperatures are much more unlikely to happen.

A more in-depth article on this subject: Desert