Dasht-e Lut

Location within Iran

University of Montana scientists found Iran's Lut Desert reached the hottest temperature of anywhere on Earth between 2003 and 2009.

As seen from space

Map of biotopes of Iran

  Forest steppe

  Forests and woodlands

  Semi-desert

  Desert lowlands

  Steppe

  Salted alluvial marshes

Dasht-e Lut, also spelled Dasht-i-Lut and known as the Lut Desert, is a large salt desert in southeastern Iran and is the world's 25th largest desert. It has been ranked the hottest place on earth at nearly 70.7 degrees C (159-160 degrees F), and is one of the world's driest places.

Description[link]

Iran is climatically part of the Afro-Asian belt of deserts that stretch from the Cape Verde islands off West Africa all the way to Mongolia near Beijing, China. The patchy, elongated, light-colored feature in the foreground (parallel to the mountain range) is the northernmost of the Dasht dry lakes that stretch southward 300 kilometers (190 mi). In near-tropical deserts, elevated areas capture most precipitation. As a result an abiotic zone.

Iran's geography consists of a plateau surrounded by mountains and divided into drainage basins. Dasht-e Lut is one of the largest of these desert basins, 480 kilometers (300 mi) long and 320 kilometers (200 mi) wide,^[1] and is considered to be one of the driest places on Earth.^[2][3][4]

Area of the desert is about 51,800 square kilometers (20,000 mi²).^[5] The other large basin is the Dasht-e Kavir. During the spring wet season, water briefly flows down from the Kerman mountains, but it soon dries up, leaving behind only rocks, sand, and salt.

The eastern part of Dasht-e Lut is a low plateau covered with salt flats. In contrast, the center has been sculpted by the wind into a series of parallel ridges and furrows, extending over 150 km (93 mi) and reaching 75 m (250 ft) in height.^[1] This area is also riddled with ravines and sinkholes. The southeast is a vast expanse of sand, like a Saharan erg, with dunes 300 m (1000 ft) high, among the tallest in the world.^[1]

Hottest land surface[link]

Measurements of MODIS (Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) installed on NASA's satellite "Aqua" from 2003 - 2005 testify that the hottest land surface on Earth is located in Dasht-e Lut and land surface temperatures reach here 70.7 degrees C (159-160 degrees F)^{[6][7][8][9][2][3][4]}. Precision of measurements is 0.5 - 1 degrees K^[10][11].

The hottest part of Dasht-e Lut is Gandom Beryan, a large plateau covered in dark lava, approximately 480 km² in area.^[12]. According to a local legend, the name (in translation from Persian - "Toasted wheat") originates from an accident where a load of wheat was left in the desert and was eventually scorched by the heat in a few days time^[13].

See also[link]

• Dasht-e Kavir
• Geography of Iran
• International rankings of Iran

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c} editors, Richard L. Scheffel, Susan J. Wernert ; writers, Oliver E. Allen ... et al. (1980). Natural Wonders of the World. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-89577-087-5. 
2. ^ ^{a b} http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1102/p16s01-sten.html
3. ^ ^{a b} http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/earth/temperature-of-earth/
4. ^ ^{a b} http://www.redorbit.com/images/images-of-the-day/img/13205/hottest_spot_on_earth/index.html
5. ^ Wright, John W. (ed.) (2006). The New York Times Almanac (2007 ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books. p. 456. ISBN 978-0-14-303820-7. 
6. ^ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=7149
7. ^ http://www.weather.ir/english/
8. ^ http://www.climatetemp.info/iran/
9. ^ http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=58252&sectionid=351020108
10. ^ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/dataprod/dataproducts.php?MOD_NUMBER=11 MOD 11 - Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity, MODIS Website
11. ^ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/atbd/atbd_mod11.pdf Zhengming Wan, MODIS Land-Surface Temperature Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (LST ATBD) Version 3.3. April 1999
12. ^ http://www.iranreview.org/content/view/1067/51/ A Journey To Earth's Hottest Point
13. ^ Gandom Beryan in Lut Desert - hottest place on Earth. Wondermondo. 1 November 2010. http://www.wondermondo.com/Countries/As/Iran/Kerman/GandomBeryan.htm 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dasht-e Lut

• NASA image and info
• NASA survey on temperatures around the globe

Coordinates: 30°36′18″N 59°04′04″E / 30.60500001°N 59.0677777878°E / 30.60500001; 59.0677777878

Anna Bergendahl
Anna Bergendahl 2010
Background information
Birth name	Anna Henrietta Bergendahl
Born	(1991-12-11) 11 December 1991 (age 20)
Origin	Hägersten, Stockholm
Genres	Folk
Years active	2008–present
Labels	Lionheart International Universal Music Group
Website	anna-bergendahl.se

Anna Henrietta Bergendahl (born 11 December 1991) is a Swedish singer. She was born in Hägersten, Stockholm and raised in Nyköping and Katrineholm. Bergendahl is of partial Irish descent as her grandmother was born and lives in Ireland, and Anna's first performance in front of an audience was made in a cathedral in York when she was only eight years old.^[1] She took part in Swedish TV4 music program Super Troupers in 2004, and in Idol 2008 where she reached the Final 5 before being eliminated.^[2]

In 2009, Bergendahl signed for Lionheart Records.^[3] Her debut album was released on 14 April 2010. Bergendahl won Melodifestivalen 2010 with the song "This Is My Life" and represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Norway, where she became the first Swedish entrant in the Contest's history to fail to qualify for the final.^[4] The song hit #1 on the Swedish Singles Chart on 5 March 2010.^[5]

Biography[link]

Idol 2008[link]

Bergendahl successfully applied for the TV4 talent show Idol 2008 with her rendition of Bonnie Raitt's Have a Heart which received praises from the jury which consisted of Laila Bagge, Anders Bagge and Andreas Carlsson.^[6] She later sang songs like ABBA's Mamma Mia, Py Bäckman's Stad i ljus, Save Up All Your Tears, Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis, The Best and Over the Rainbow.

Bergendahl finished fifth in the Idol season which was later won by Kevin Borg.^[7]

In 2009 Bergendahl was approached by Kristian Lagerström and Bobby Ljunggren and asked if she wanted to record a song for Melodifestivalen 2010.

Melodifestivalen and Eurovision[link]

Anna Bergendahl participated in Melodifestivalen 2010 with the song This Is My Life, written and produced by Kristian Lagerström (lyrics) and Bobby Ljunggren (music). The song won the final in Ericsson Globe on March 13, 2010, with 214 points. Bergendahl represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Bærum, Norway,^[8] where she became the first Swedish singer not to qualify for the final since the introduction of the semifinals in 2004 (although she placed 11th, just outside the top 10 qualifiers by a margin of 5 points). This Is My Life was the first ballad to win Melodifestivalen since 1998 when Kärleken är won and was also Sweden's 50th entry in the Eurovision Song Contest.

2010: After Eurovision[link]

After Eurovision Bergendahl participated in Allsång på Skansen, Sommarkrysset, and Lotta på Liseberg. She also went on a tour and sang songs from her debut album.

Discography[link]

Christer Björkman and Anna Bergendahl in Oslo on May 23, 2010

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

Idol Releases[link]

Other Charted Songs[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anna Bergendahl

• Official site (Swedish)