The paper presents some results of a comparative analysis of satellite data and ground-based measurement data on characteristics of aerosol over the territory of Tomsk Region. The goal of analysis was to assess the applicability of data of satellite system AVHRR/NOAA to determination of the characteristics of atmospheric aerosol and smokes of forest fires. The results of research show good potentialities of using data collected with AVHRR/NOAA for operative monitoring of atmospheric aerosol characteristics and for estimating the atmospheric optical condition over the Western Siberian regions from space.