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Aerosol optical depth (AOD) values at 550 nm derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor onboard NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites, for the 10 years period of 2003 -2012 have been analyzed in the present study. The retrieved satellite data (Terra/Aqua) has been used to investigate the temporal heterogeneity in columnar aerosol characteristics over a semi arid urban tropical Delhi zone (28 degrees 34’, 77 degrees 07’, 233 m ASL) of Northern India with a resolution of 1 degrees x 1 degrees grid in magnitude. Aerosol optical depths have found to be increased >25% across Delhi region of India during the study period of 2003-2012. Yearly mean Terra/Aqua AOD values have shown an increasing trend at a rate of 0.005/0.009 per year respectively. However, seasonally winter means Terra/Aqua AOD values exhibit an increasing trend at a rate of similar to 0.012/0.007 per year respectively. In order to provide a better understanding of aerosol-cloud interaction, a single paired one tailed distribution student’s t-Test has been applied to the Terra AOD values and cloud parameters. The results extracted in the present study are compared with the earlier studies as well as with the AOD values over various other Indian regions. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.