  The time variations of spectral properties of dark martian surface features
are investigated using the OMEGA near-IR dataset. The analyzed period covers
two Mars years, spanning from early 2004 to early 2008 (includes the 2007
global dust event). Radiative transfer modeling indicates that the apparent
albedo variations of low to mid-latitude dark regions are consistent with those
produced by the varying optical depth of atmospheric dust as measured
simultaneously from the ground by the Mars Exploration Rovers. We observe only
a few significant albedo changes that can be attributed to surface phenomena.
They are small-scaled and located at the boundaries between bright and dark
regions. We then investigate the variations of the mean particle size of
aerosols using the evolution of the observed dark region spectra between 1 and
2.5 {\mu}m. Overall, we find that the observed changes in the spectral slope
are consistent with a mean particle size of aerosols varying with time between
1 and 2 {\mu}m. Observations with different solar zenith angles make it
possible to characterize the aerosol layer at different altitudes, revealing a
decrease of the particle size of aerosols as altitude increases.
