The spatial and temporal distribution of the atmospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD) over Africa and the trans-Atlantic transport of the dust aerosol are analyzed using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) AOD products and Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications Version 2 (MERRA-2) reanalysis data. The results are as follows. 1) Dust aerosol is the major aerosol component over the desert areas of Africa and the adjacent Atlantic Ocean due to the dust from the Sahara Desert and its trans-Atlantic transport. Accompanied with the northward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) from January to July are the synchronous northward shift of the high AOD area and the high dust aerosol optical depth (dust AOD) area; in contrast, the ITCZ, the high AOD, and the high dust AOD area retreat southward from August to December. 2) The atmospheric aerosols over the Congo Basin are mainly the organic carbon (OC) and black carbon (BC) originated from the tropical rainforest and the savanna. While the high OC and BC resulting from biomass burning are mainly concentrated in the later half stage (from August to September) of the dry season (from June to September), the biogenic OC emissions are continuous throughout the year with a peak appearing at the beginning of the rainy season. The emission from biomass burning and the emission from biogenic emission occur successively, resulting in a high OC AOD and high BC AOD period during the dry season (especially the latter half stage). 3) The sea salt aerosol is the major aerosol component over the estuary region of the Amazon River; the wind strengthens from September to November over there with a wind direction shift from southeasterly to easterly, which is more favorable for the westward transport of the sea salt aerosol into the estuary region of the Amazon River, resulting in a high AOD and high sea salt AOD region over the adjacent area. 4) The trans-Atlantic(westward) transport of dust aerosol from the Sahara Desert is located northmost from July to September but southmost from January to March. The transport pathways of the dust aerosol over the ocean show a southward shift from 2000 to 2016, which is consistent with the concurrent strengthening of the Azores High (reflected by a decrease of the Ertel's potential vorticity at 850 hPa and an increase of the geopotential height at 500 hPa) and the strengthening of the north wind to the north of the dust plumes as well as the concurrent shift of the ITCZ. These results suggest a possibility of evaluating the regional atmospheric circulation and climate change using signals from variation and characteristic of the spatial-temporal distribution of atmospheric aerosols.