Rhonda Sherman, age 9, of Sharon, mass., For her question:

How big is the Sahara?

The sandy Sahara is the biggest desert in the world. It sprawls 3000 miles across the north of Africa from the Atlantic ocean to the red. Sea. From the Mediterranean sea, it stretches southward for about 1000 miles.

In area, the vast desert covers about 315 million square miles, which makes it almost as large as the whole continent of Europe. The size of the sandy Sahara is about equal. To the area of the United States.