A new model for aeolian sand transport is proposed, based on dynamic mass balancing (DMB). A temporal lag in flux response to wind velocity naturally emerges in the DMB model. The DMB model outperforms two existing models over a range of timescales (10 Hz–10 min). 4 s and 1 min averaging intervals are identified as best for predicting sand transport. Modelling sand transport with this new model could significantly improve landscape-scale studies.