Ephemeral and dried lakes in southwest and central Asia, such as the Aral Sea and Hamouns in east Iran, are major sources of dust storms with an increasing tendency during the last decades due to anthropogenic influence and climate change. This study examines two characteristic dust-storm events originated from these areas on 12–15 July 2016 and 27–28 May 2018. Thermal low-pressure systems over topographic-low areas and the Caspian Sea High, along with pressure gradients and intense surface winds over the dust sources facilitated the dust outbreaks and transport. Three models (DREAM-NMME-MACC, CAMS and WRF-Chem) are synergized to simulate the spatial distribution of AOD and surface dust concentrations during the dust events. The results show that DREAM-NMME-MACC and WRF-Chem exhibit the highest discrepancies (R = 0.15–0.58; RMSE = 83%–125%) in representing the spatial and temporal distribution of dust compared to Terra-MODIS AODs, while CAMS reveals the best performance (R = 0.29–0.77; RSME = 67%–124%). All models significantly underestimate the high MODIS AODs, especially near the source areas, due to different dust schemes, soil conditions, meteorology and dynamic processes for dust emissions that they comprise. Furthermore, notable differences between the models are revealed in simulations of the PM10 concentrations in Zabol, east Iran, as the models fail to reproduce the temporal evolution and high intensity of the dust event. In general, all models represent better the dust storm originated from Sistan (13–14 July 2016) rather than the Aralkum dust storm (27–28 May 2018), indicating an incapability in representing the soil characteristics in a progressively drying terrain.

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