Dust storms effects on surface-heat flux and sea surface temperature in the Red Sea

Extreme Dust Days (EDDs) are much more frequent in the southern part of the Red Sea (RS) compared to the northern part during the dust season (March–August) over the period 1980–2024. In this study, MERRA-2 surface heat-flux data and AVHRR SST observations are analyzed to investigate the influence of extreme dust events on surface heat fluxes and associated SST variability in the Red Sea. During this period, an increasing trend in EDD occurrence over the Red Sea is observed. The enhancement of dust during EDDs is associated with distinct wind patterns over both the southern Red Sea (SRS) and northern Red Sea (NRS), indicating that these wind patterns play a key role in transporting dust toward the Red Sea. Over the SRS, EDDs are associated with increase in longwave radiation (LW) about + 10 W m⁻², decrease in shortwave radiation (SW) about − 35 W m⁻², and in latent heat flux (LH; about − 12 W m⁻²), and an increase in sensible heat flux (SH; <2 W m⁻²). In the NRS, EDD-related anomalies also show an increase in LW (about + 10 W m⁻²) and a decrease in SW (about − 30 W m⁻²), accompanied by reductions in LH and SH fluxes of approximately − 20 W m⁻² and − 2 W m⁻², respectively. Consequently, SST anomalies during EDDs exhibit substantial cooling, with a decrease up to ~ 3 °C over the SRS region. In contrast, the SST response over the NRS is less pronounced, because of fewer and shorter-lived EDDs occurrences. These results highlight the influence of dust loading on the surface energy budget and SST variability in the Red Sea with potential implications for regional ocean dynamics and marine ecosystems, particularly under future scenarios of increasing dust activity.