Understanding the Impacts of Heatwaves in the "Godzilla" African Dust Event in June 2020

North Africa is a major global source of dust aerosols, influencing both regional and global climate. It has long been noticed that African dust can be transported across the tropical North Atlantic to North America during the boreal summer. A recent extreme African dust outbreak, the “Godzilla” dust event from 14–28 June 2020, is the strongest trans-Atlantic dust event in summer over the past twenty years. The extreme dust emissions over western North Africa during the event are also among the most intense. Studies have shown that various factors drove the extreme dust emissions, such as intensified surface winds, mesoscale convective systems, and decreased vegetation coverage. However, the impacts of other conditions, such as the heat waves preceding and during the event, are not fully understood. In this study, we investigate the influence of heat waves on dust emissions during the “Godzilla” dust event. Our preliminary results suggest that the heat waves associated with the Saharan heat low (SHL) played a multifaceted role in this event, including desiccating soil moisture, which increased soil susceptibility to wind erosion, steepening the vertical temperature gradient, and altering the position of the Inter-Tropical Discontinuity (ITD). These factors created instability that led to the formation of convective systems responsible for the haboobs throughout the “Godzilla” event.