Which is the Smallest Desert in the World?

The Carcross Desert in Yukon, Canada is heralded worldwide as the smallest desert in the world, covering a mere 2.6 square kilometres (about 1 square mile) of sand dunes just outside of the village of Carcross.

What is the world's smallest desert?

The Carcross Desert as the smallest desert in the world. This is simply a small patch of sand near the town of Carcross in Yukon Territory, northwestern Canada, usually being described as a “sub‑Arctic sand pit” rather than a classic hot desert.

Place: Just outside Carcross, about 70 km south of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada.

It has an area of approximately 2.6 km² (1 square mile) or about 640–650 acres, making it minuscule compared with major deserts like the Sahara or Thar.

Nickname: Commonly called the “world’s smallest desert” in tourism, media, and quiz material, appears with this title in several competitive-exam style questions.

Why do they call Carcross a desert?

The open sand dunes and very limited vegetation give the Carcross Desert an almost miniature desert appearance-the origin and climate, however, are unusual for a desert landscape.

Geological Origin

These dunes consist of remnants of ancient glacial lake beds that were left behind following the last Ice Age, when large lakes dried up and winds blew the exposed sand into the present dune field.

Today, robust Yukon winds continue to mobilize sand from nearby Bennett Lake and keep these dunes active.

Climate and Debate

• The area lies within a rain-shadow zone, so that the sand remains relatively dry, reinforcing this desert-like appearance.

• However, scientists indicate that Carcross gets more precipitation than a real desert; thus, based on a very low annual rainfall in the strict climatological definition, it is not technically a desert but rather a dune field.

• Despite this, the label of a “smallest desert” has stuck in popular geography, tourism, and general knowledge resources.

Is Carcross Desert officially considered the smallest desert in the world? 

While there is no single, globally-recognized authority for the official certification of "smallest desert" records, Carcross is widely accepted and even popularly taught as a world's smallest desert just because of its tiny size (~1 square mile) and sandy, desert-like appearance. 

Why do some scientists say it's not a "real" desert?

A desert is conventionally defined as an area that receives extremely low annual precipitation. Carcross receives more rainfall and snowfall than that threshold, so scientifically it is a dune field in a relatively humid region, not an arid desert, even though it looks like one. 

Are there other contenders for "smallest desert"? 

Other local sites, such as an extremely small dune patch in KwaZulu‑Natal, South Africa, also make this claim, but they are mostly larger than Carcross or less well-known. For exam and popular geography purposes, Carcross Desert is still the conventional response.