MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Radio Spectrometer) data were analyzed to determine if different aerosol types, i.e. desert dust, forest fire smoke and human produced aerosols can be identified. Aerosol optical depths, fine mode ratios, and angstrom coefficients over land and ocean were mapped and statistically evaluated for fourteen different MODIS five minute granules. The granules were chosen based on their known aerosol types that are emitted in each location. MODIS data for eleven of the cases were consistent with the previous research done with AERONET measurements that established a correlation between the angstrom coefficient and aerosol type. Aerosols of the coarse fraction (desert dust) had angstrom coefficients from 0.0 to 0.5, and aerosols of the fine fraction (forest fire smoke and anthropogenic emissions) had angstrom coefficients from 1.0 to1.5. Although the results for the eleven cases suggest that MODIS data can be used to identify the coarse fraction from the fine, there exists a difficulty with differentiating between forest fire smoke and anthropogenic aerosols.