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A simple graphical method is presented to classify aerosol types based on a combination of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and aerosol relative optical thickness (AROT). Six aerosol types, including maritime (MA), desert dust (DD), continental (CO), sub-continental (SC), urban industry (UI) and biomass burning (BB), are discriminated in a two dimensional space of AOT(440) and AROT(1020/440). Numerical calculations are performed using MIE theory based on a multi log-normal particle size distribution, and the AROT ranges for each aerosol type are determined. More than 5 years of daily observations from 8 representative aerosol sites are applied to the method to confirm spatial applicability. Finally, 3 individual cases are analyzed according to their specific aerosol status. The outcomes indicate that the new graphical method coordinates well with regional characteristics and is also able to distinguish aerosol variations in individual situations. This technique demonstrates a novel way to estimate different aerosol types and provide information on radiative forcing calculations and satellite data corrections. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.