Determining the source of dust storms with use of coupling WRF and HYSPLIT models: A case study of Yazd province in central desert of Iran

•Two cases of dust storms of Yazd province were investigated with synoptic condition.•These storms were simulated by using WRF and HYSPLIT models.•The aerosol optical depth (AOD) from MODIS data was used for confirming the results of back trajectories path. Dust storm, which has a significant impact on regional air quality, is one of the most hazardous meteorological phenomena in the arid areas. Yazd province is one of the arid areas in Iran that is exposed to dust storms. In this study, two cases of dust storms of Yazd province are studied with the use of coupling numerical models and aerosol optical depth (AOD) from MODIS data. We investigated synoptic condition of such dust storms that were formed downstream of upper level through in the area by focusing on two storms, on May 24 and 25, 2014. For this purpose, a dynamic coupling of this case is done using WRF output the HYSPLIT model. This model was implemented to investigate the sources of the dust storms by calculating the back trajectories from the receptor sites. The trajectories indicated that the first and the second case storms occurred in the northeast and the south of Yazd respectively. These results also showed a good agreement with MODIS aerosol optical depth data and HYSPLIT back trajectories paths.