In East Asia, various kinds of aerosols emitted from anthropogenic and natural sources such as sulfate, nitrate, black carbon, organic carbon and mineral dust, coexist as a mixture. In order to clarify the effects of aerosols on plants and human health, it is indispensable to understand the characteristics of aerosols and their distribution and movement in a regional scale. In this study (Research Item A02), three different approaches are taken in the three research groups (P05, P06, and P07). P05 employs the lidar network and ground-based measurement networks including the measurement in mountain regions to study the distribution and movement of aerosols in various spatial and temporal scales. In P06, the chemical and physical characteristics of aerosols are observed at the ground stations. In P07, observations using an aircraft are performed. In A02, proposed researches are also conducted on the behavior of specific pollutants, namely polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (K04), nitrogen oxides (K05), and black carbon (K07), and on satellite remote sensing (K06)
