Dust aerosol radiative effects during a dust event and heatwave in summer 2019 simulated with a regional climate model over Spain

C. Gil-Díaz; M. Sicard; P. Nabat; M. Mallet; C. Muñoz-Porcar; A. Comerón; A. Rodríguez-Gómez; D.C.F. Oliveira

doi:10.1051/epjconf/202636202011

Open Access

Issue		EPJ Web Conf. Volume 362, 2026 31^st International Laser Radar Conference (ILRC 31) Held Together with the 22^nd Coherent Laser Radar Conference (CLRC 22)


Article Number		02011
Number of page(s)		4
Section		Lidar Measurements of Clouds and Aerosol
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202636202011
Published online		09 April 2026

EPJ Web of Conferences 362, 02011 (2026)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202636202011

Dust aerosol radiative effects during a dust event and heatwave in summer 2019 simulated with a regional climate model over Spain

C. Gil-Díaz^(a), M. Sicard^(a)^,(b)^,(c), P. Nabat^(d), M. Mallet^(d), C. Muñoz-Porcar^(a), A. Comerón^(a), A. Rodríguez-Gómez^(a) and D.C.F. Oliveira^(a)

^(a) CommSensLab, Dept of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Politècncia de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, 08034, Spain
^(b) Ciències i Tecnologies de l'Espai-Centre de Recerca de l'Aeronàutica i de l'Espai/Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (CTE-CRAE/IEEC), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, 08034, Spain
^(c) Laboratoire de l'Atmosphère et des Cyclones, Université de La Réunion, Saint Denis, 97744, France
^(d) Météo-France, CNRM-GAME, Centre national de recherches météorologiques, UMR3589, Toulouse, France Lead Author e-mail address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published online: 9 April 2026

Abstract

This study investigates the radiative effects of dust aerosols in the Mediterranean region during a dust event accompanied by a heatwave in summer 2019, using the ALADIN-Climate regional climate model developed at Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques. An evaluation of the simulations performed by ALADIN-Climate is made, showing its ability to reproduce the variability of this dust event. For example, the aerosol optical depth and the shortwave (SW) downward radiative flux at bottom-of-the-atmosphere are compared against observations. Therefore, the dust direct and semi-direct radiative forcings (DRF, SDRF) of dust aerosols provided by ALADIN-Climate model are analyzed at the top-of-the-atmosphere, resulting in a DRF of -0.79±0.76 (+0.14±0.07) W/m² and SDRF of +1.27±1.34 (+0.22±0.45) W/m² in SW (LW) over Spain. Finally, the changes in the state of the atmosphere associated with the dust aerosols are estimated, showing an increase of atmospheric stability and a possible role of the dust particles as cloud condensation nuclei.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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