We present characteristics of the sulfur dioxide (SO2) loading over Thessaloniki, Greece, and seven other selected sites around the world using SO2 total column measurements from Brewer spectrophotometers together with satellite estimates of the Version 8 TOMS Sulfur Dioxide Index (SOI) over the same locations, retrieved from Nimbus 7 TOMS (1979-1993), Earth Probe TOMS (1996-2003) and OMI/Aura (2004-2006). Traditionally, the SOI has been used to quantify the SO2 quantities emitted during great volcanic eruptions. Here, we investigate whether the SOI can give an indication of the total SO2 load for areas and periods away from eruptive volcanic activity by studying its relative changes as a correlative measure to the SO2 total column. We examined time series from Thessaloniki and another seven urban and non-urban stations, five in the European Union (Arosa, De Bilt, Hohenpeissenberg, Madrid, Rome) and two in India (Kodaikanal, New Delhi). Based on the Brewer data, Thessaloniki shows high SO2 total columns for a European Union city but values are still low if compared to highly affected regions like those in India. For the time period 1983-2006 the SO2 levels above Thessaloniki have generally decreased with a rate of 0.028 Dobson Units (DU) per annum, presumably due to the European Union's strict sulfur control policies. The seasonal variability of the SO2 total column exhibits a double peak structure with two maxima, one during winter and the second during summer. The winter peak can be attributed to central heating while the summer peak is due to synoptic transport from sources west of the city and sources in the north of Greece. A moderate correlation was found between the seasonal levels of Brewer total SO2 and SOI for Thessaloniki, Greece (R = 0.710-0.763) and Madrid, Spain (R = 0.691) which shows that under specific conditions the SOI might act as an indicator of the SO2 total load. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.