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This study compares the aerosol optical depth (AOD) Level 2 Collection 5 products from the Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) with ground-based measurements from a Mi-crotops II sun photometer over Sanya (18.23°N, 109.52°E), a tropical coastal site in China, from July 2005 to June 2006. The results indicate that the Terra and Aqua MODIS AOD retrievals at 550 nm have good correlations with the measurements from the Microtops II sun photometer. The correlation coefficients for the linear regression fits (R2) are 0.83 for Terra and 0.78 for Aqua, and the regressed intercepts are near zero (0.005 for Terra, 0.009 for Aqua). However, the Terra and Aqua MODIS are found to consistently underestimate AOD with respect to the Microtops II sun photometer, with slope values of 0.805 (Terra) and 0.767 (Aqua). The comparison of the monthly mean AOD indicates that for each month, the Terra and Aqua MODIS retrievals are matched with corresponding Microtops measurements but are systematically less than those of the Microtops. This validation study indicates that the Terra and Aqua MODIS AOD retrievals can adequately characterize the AOD distributions over the tropical coastal region of China, but further efforts to eliminate systematic errors are needed.