The stratospheric aerosol measurement II, stratospheric aerosol and gas experiment (SAGE) I, and SAGE II series of solar occultation satellite instruments were designed for the study of stratospheric aerosols and gases and have been extensively validated in the stratosphere. They are also capable, under cloud-free conditions, of measuring the extinction due to aerosols in the troposphere. Such tropospheric extinction measurements have yet to be validated by appropriate lidar and in situ techniques. In this paper published atmospheric aerosol optical depth measurements, made from high-altitude observatories during volcanically quiet periods, have been compared with optical depths calculated from local SAGE I and SAGE II extinction profiles. Surface measurements from three such observatories have been used, one located in Hawaii and two within the continental United States. Data have been intercompared on a seasonal basis at wavelengths between 0.5 and 1.0 μm and found to agree within the range of measurement errors and expected atmospheric variation. The mean rms difference between the optical depths for corresponding satellite and surface measured data sets is 29%, and the mean ratio of the optical depths is 1.09. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1994