[en] Ambient aerosols make a significant contribution to the environment and climate through their optical properties. In this study, the aerosol extinction coefficient and Aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieved using the Fernald Method from the ground-based Micro-Pulse Lidar (MPL) were used to investigate the characteristics of aerosols during haze and haze-free periods in Shanghai. There were 216 haze days including 145 dry haze days, 39 damp haze days and 32 days of both dry and damp haze in Shanghai from March 2009 to February 2010. During the haze periods, aerosols were concentrated mainly below 600 m resulting in the most severe pollution layer in Shanghai. In contrast to the aerosol optical properties during haze-free periods, aerosol extinction coefficients and AOD were larger in the lower altitude (below 1 km) during haze periods. The lowest 1 km contributed 53–72% of the Aerosol optical depth (AOD) below 6 km for the haze periods and < 41% of that for the haze-free periods except summer. According to the analysis of influencing factors, although atmospheric convection was strong in summer which led to reduce the extinction, the highest occurrence of haze with relatively low aerosol extinction most of time was in summer, which resulted from the factors such as higher relative humidity, temperature and more solar radiation causing hygroscopic growth of particles and formation of secondary aerosols; in spring and autumn, there was less haze occurrences because the boundary layer was relatively higher, which allowed pollutants to diffuse more easily, but spring was the second most frequency season of haze due to frequent dust transport from the north; in winter high concentrations of particles and low boundary layer height were not beneficial to the diffusion of pollutants near the surface and caused haze occurrence rather high with high aerosol extinction. - Highlights: • The extinction coefficient was retrieved using the Fernald Method. • The aerosols mainly concentrated in the atmosphere below 1km during haze. • The most severe haze pollution was below 600m. • The lowest 1km contributed 54-76% of the Aerosol optical depth (AOD) below 6km for the haze periods.