## 3 Results and Discussion
### Vertical Profiles of DA Effects on SW Radiation, Thermal Structure, and Atmospheric Dynamics  
Vertical variations in the sign and magnitude of DDREs, but also of aerosol DREs in general, are expected during intense dust transport events, such as the examined DAEC here, due to modifications either of the transferred solar radiative fluxes or of the aerosol optical properties. The absorption and scattering of DAs are not vertically homogeneous, but depends on the vertical distribution of DAs as well as on the available solar radiation, leading, for example, to stronger dust-induced atmospheric heating effects at altitudes where the DA load is high [66]. Moreover, the vertical position of aerosols relative to clouds is also important, changing the sign of the TOA DDRE [79; 80], while the vertical distribution of aerosols alters both the aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interactions, possibly enhancing the atmospheric warming [71]. In addition, the vertically resolved aerosol's (dust included) radiative effects also depend on the vertical distribution of water vapor with respect to the aerosol layers [81], causing further complexity. Finally, DAs also produce considerable effects on LW radiation, producing vertically variable atmospheric cooling and surface warming [82]. These inhomogeneous and vertically variable DA radiative heating and cooling effects, in conjunction with the warm advection, which takes place during the transport of DAs from the hot desert areas of N. Africa to the MB, modify the region's atmospheric temperature structure and stability. Such modifications due to DAs, such as the increased atmospheric stability affecting the downward mixing of energy and cloud formation [4], have been investigated over the Tropical Atlantic Ocean [37], Australia [83], and Asia [84], leading to the conclusion that DAs cause temperature inversions and/or decreased temperature gradients in the lower atmospheric layers (i.e., from 1 to 3 km above the ground). Concerning the Mediterranean Basin, the first study dealing with the modification of temperature lapse rates due to the presence of high dust loads was made by [50], who selected the same DAEC with the one investigated in the present study (16-18 June 2016). Performing a study based on observational satellite and reanalysis data, they investigated for the first time the modification of temperature structure and lapse rates over the MB in the presence of high dust loads. They found that the transport of African DAs takes place in two atmospheric layers, one near the surface, which is more intense near the source areas of N. Africa, and an elevated second layer between 2 and 8 km, resulting in systematic intense temperature inversions (as strong as 20 K/km) and/or reduced temperature lapse rates just below the elevated dust layer. The aim of the present section is to interpret these findings based on the SW atmospheric DDRE and to estimate its contribution to the overall observed atmospheric heating, lapse rates, and temperature inversions, taking into account that all these are formed under the action of other processes than the transfer of SW radiation and induced SW DDREs, namely the dust LW radiative effects, the horizontal and vertical transfer of sensible and latent heat fluxes, the thermal conduction, as well as the adiabatic heating/cooling associated with convective air motions. In Figures 5-7, specific vertical cross-sections of the dust extinction coefficient (\(\sigma_{\rm ext,dust}\), in km\({}^{-1}\)), solar atmospheric DDRE (in W/m\({}^{2}\)), atmospheric heating rates (HR, K/3 h), and temperature gradients (\(\gamma\), in K/km) across the pathway of the exported dust during the three days of the DAEC, at 12:00 UTC of each day, are shown. The slant path of the first day of the DAEC (16 June 2016, Figure 5e) extending from Morocco, passing through the central Mediterranean Sea and Italy, and reaching up to the NE Balkans, is selected to cover areas affected or not by the African dust export, in order to highlight the effect of DAs.