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Tropospheric NO 2 and SO 2 concentrations are of great importance with regard to air quality, atmospheric chemistry, and climate change. Due to lack of surface monitoring stations, this study analyzes long term trend of NO 2 and SO 2 levels (2005–2014), retrieved from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) board on the NASA's Aura satellite, in an important region of China – Henan Province. Henan Province, located in North China Plain, has encountered serious air pollution problems including extremely high PM 2.5 concentrations and as one of the most polluted region in China. The satellite spatial images clearly show that high levels of both NO 2 and SO 2 are concentrated in north and northeastern regions with much lower levels observed in other parts of Henan. Both pollutants exhibit the highest levels in winter with the least in summer/spring. The temporal trend analysis based on moving average of deseasonalized and decyclic data indicates that for NO 2 , there is a continuous increasing pattern from 2005 to 2011 at 6.4% per year, thereafter, it shows a decreasing trend (10.6% per year). As for SO 2 , the increasing trend is about 16% per year from 2005 to 2007 with decreasing rate 7% per year from 2007 to 2014. The economic development with incredible annual 11% GDP growth in Henan is responsible for increasing levels of NO 2 and SO 2 . The observed decreasing SO 2 level starting in 2007 is due to reduced SO 2 emission, utilization of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) devices and to some extent, in preparation of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. On the other hand, increasing vehicle numbers (155% from 2006 to 2012) and coal consumption (37% during the same span), along with the lack of denitration process for removing flue/exhaust gas NO x are responsible for increasing NO 2 trend until 2011. The ratio of SO 2 /NO 2 started decreasing in 2007 and dropped significantly from 2011 to 2013 indicating good performance of FGD and ever increasing NO x contribution from mobile sources. Unlike those observed in developed countries (US, EU and Japan) where a decreasing trend for both SO 2 and NO 2 has been observed since 1990s, the observed upward and downward trend found in Henan is similar to those found in North China Plain and other parts of China. The spatial and temporal trend analyses of SO 2 and NO 2 in four other regions in Henan further indicate a similar trend to those observed in Henan Province, albeit with different increasing and decreasing rate. The results provide regulatory agency to develop action plans to combat air pollution problem in general and SO 2 and NO 2 problems in particular in Henan. The implications of our findings and recommendations for decision makers are discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]