The AERONET is a world-wide sun/sky radiometer measurement network and has several years of observation data at more than 300 locations. The size distribution and complex refractive indices are retrieved from the sky radiance measurement, which can be utilized for calculating almost all the optical variables by Mie theory. Among those variable, the optical thicnkess, single scattering albedo and asymmetry factor are used for evaluating the aerosol direct radiative forcings (ADRFs) in short wavelenth regime. The Column Radiative Model from the NCAR CCM is used to estimate ADRF at local or in regional scale. The ADRF of the Asian dusts and non-dust aerosols are compared during the ACE-Asia IOP as a case study. The regional mean aerosol forcings are also investigated, the ADRF in Asia regions and Sahara Desert is turned out to be relatively large, which is due to the big optical thickness of dust aerosols. The Asian dusts influence a lot in Spring while the Saharan Dust influence all the year. The aerosol’s influences on the solar irradiation at the other regions, where the AERONET sites extist, are examined extensively, and compared with 3D aerosol transport model(SPRINTARS)’s calculation and satellite (CERES) measurement. Moreover, the categorization of the aerosol types is tried out of AERONET data, which have been collected from 1993 to 2003. Six types of aerosol types can be identified - mineral dust, biomass burning aerosol, tropospheric background, urban, marine, and anthropogenic carbon. Using the aerosol categorization various aerosol optical properties are investigated, and the dominant aerosols or the mixed status of several aerosol types are examined in several regions.