The seasonal variability of cloud optical depth over northwestern China derived from Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Single Scanner Footprint (SSF) Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Edition 1B data from July 2002 to June 2004 is presented. The regions of interest are those with Asia monsoon influence, the Tianshan and Qilian Mountains, and the Taklimakan Desert. The results show that the instantaneous measurements presented here are much higher than the previous results derived from International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) D2 monthly mean data. Generally the measurements of cloud optical depth are the highest in summer and the lowest in winter, however, Taklimakan Desert has the lowest measurements in autumn. The regional variation is quite significant over northwestern China.