A method is proposed to determine a so-called scaling height of the tropospheric aerosol and the exponent-type aerosol extinction coefficient profile from the pyrheliometer or sunphotometer measurements and surface visibility data. Using the method, characteristics of seasonally/yearly mean scaling heights and aerosol extinction profiles over 11 sites in China during 1994-2001 are analyzed. The yearly-mean scaling heights over the 11 sites change between 1.30 and 2.67 km, and they are very variable for different seasons, being usually larger in spring. As far as the yearly-mean scaling heights of all 11 sites are concerned, they change between 1.88 and 2.11 km during 1994-2001, having an increasing trend. The scaling heights from pyrheliometer data are compared with those from AERONET sunphotometer data, and a good agreement between them is obtained. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.