Photos

ULM flying over the Gobi desert

The Gobi is the largest desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia.
The Gobi measures over 1,610 km from southwest to northeast and 800 km from north to south. It occupies an arc of land 1,295,000 km2 in area, making it fifth largest in the world and Asia's largest.

The Gobi Desert is the source of many important fossil finds, including the first dinosaur eggs.

Currently, the Gobi desert is expanding at an alarming rate (desertification). The expansion is particularly rapid on the southern edge into China, which has seen 3,600 km2 of grassland overtaken every year by the Gobi Desert. Dust storms, which used to occur regularly in China, have seen a dramatic increase in occurrence in the past 20 years, mainly due to desertification, and causing further damage to China's agriculture economy.

The expansion of the Gobi is attributed mostly to human activities, notably deforestation, overgrazing, and depletion of water resources.