David Uehling, age 13, Of Tekamah, Neb., for his question;

Is there such a thing as a cold desert?

A desert is a deserted region because it lacks moisture to support a population of plants and animals. An arid climate of this kind may be hot or cold. The hot, sandy deserts arc in or near the tropics. But the Gobi desert in central Asia is a cold and windy wasteland of barren rocks. Much of Patagonia at the tip of South America is also a cold climate desert.

Some people use the term desert to describe other arid wastelands. The frozen tundras of the polar regions may be called cold deserts. The vast ice fields of Antarctica could be called the world's coldest deserts.