English: This Copernicus Sentinel-1 image features part of the Badain Jaran Desert in northwestern China.
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With an area of about 49 000 sq km, Badain Jaran is China’s third largest desert. It lies within the larger Gobi Desert in the Alxa Plateau at about 1200 m above sea level. The remote Badain Jaran Desert displays a varied landscape of stunning natural wonders, such as wind-eroded landforms, oases and remarkable towering dunes interspersed with desert lakes.
In this radar image from September 2025, the ripple effect denotes the high density of parallel sand dunes, including some of the tallest in the world, with one reaching the record height of 460 m – higher than the Empire State Building. Although most dunes are dynamic due to shifting sand, the tallest megadunes are usually stationary with a solid core and in winter they are covered with snow.
Badain Jaran is one of the few places in the world where the 'singing sand dunes' phenomenon occurs. Singing sands are generated when the desert wind pulls the top layer of sand off the layer below, resulting in the sand emitting a sharp, loud sound that can last up to several minutes. The ‘singing’ is most prominent in the dry, hot summer when the wind is strong and slopes are steep.
The Badain Jaran Desert is also well known for hosting over 100 lakes that can be seen in the image as black spots nestled among the dunes. They are either freshwater or extremely saline lakes and give the desert its name, which means ‘mysterious lakes’ in Mongolian. Their origin in fact is still debated although they are believed to be fed by underground springs.
The wide variety of landscapes leads to many different habitats and hence a high level of biodiversity. Despite being a sandy desert, Badain Jaran is home to abundant plant and animal life, and its lakes also offer a favourable environment for a large number of aquatic species.