We investigate the importance of the layered vertical distribution of absorbing and non-absorbing tropospheric aerosols for the retrieval of the aerosol optical depth from satellite radiances measured at visible wavelengths at a single viewing angle. We employ lidar and in-situ measurements of aerosol extinction coefficients and optical depths to model radiances which would have been observed by a satellite. Then, we determine the aerosol optical depth that would produce the observed radiance under various sets of assumptions which are often used in current retrieval algorithms. We demonstrate that, in the presence of dust or other absorbing aerosols, the retrieved aerosol optical depth can underestimate or overestimate the observed optical depth by a factor of two or more depending on the choice of an aerosol optical model and the relative position of different aerosol layers. The presence of undetected clouds provides a further complication. ¿ 2000 American Geophysical Union