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Using the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) monthly aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 500 nm data from 1980 to 2001 in north China, the spatial and temporal variations of AOD were examined. Seasonal AODs in Taklimakan Desert were 0.69 and 0.44 in spring and summer, respectively, which were mainly due to frequent occurrences of dust events in this region. Dust activities in spring also led to high aerosol loading in Gobi Desert and in northeast China where spring AODs were 0.33 and 0.29, respectively. Heavily impacted by events such as volcano eruption, forest fires and extraordinary dust storms, AODs showed large inter-annual variations. A decreasing tendency in AOD was observed in north China during 1980-1991, though a reverse tendency was revealed during 1997-2001, especially for spring ACID in northeast China. Further study is required to figure out how much human activities have contributed to the AOD tendency in north China. (C) 2008 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.