Black carbon aerosol is an important part of atmospheric aerosols,Black Carbon (BC) has become one of the focus on the study of global climate changes because of its dual role in global climate change and regional air quality. On the basis of reviewing relevant literatures at home and abroad in recent years,the sources and source intensity distributions of BC are analyzed,results show that the emissions from industrial and residential energy consumption are the main contributors in atmospheric BC,and the spatial distribution of global BC emissions is uneven,which is consistent with regional economic development and population density. Then the basic characters and impacts of BC are summed up,and the impact mechanism of BC on climate are focused on,the results show that BC not only can change the radiation balance of gas-ground system through direct climate effects,but also can affect regional or global climate through the reflection effect of the cloud,the change effect of the underlying surface and as cloud condensation nuclei. Then the advantages and disadvantages of the typical BC measuring methods are compared. At last,the main problems and development directions of the study of BC were reviewed briefly.