Carbon is present in the atmosphere not only as \(\hbox {CO}_2\) and other gaseous compounds: it is also one of the major components of the atmospheric aerosols. Carbonaceous Aerosols, CA, have a high but still not fully understood impact on climate and human health, furthermore, their composition is part of the “fingerprint” characteristic of different “sources” of airborne Particulate Matter (PM). The set of methodologies to quantify the concentration of specific carbonaceous species in the atmospheric aerosols is extremely ample, however a completely assessed standard has not been defined yet. In this review article we summarize the state of the art in such wide and multi-disciplinary field, with a focus on optical and thermo-optical methodologies and insights on the more relevant open problems.

碳不仅以\(\hbox {CO}_2\)和其他气态化合物的形式存在于大气中：它也是大气气溶胶的主要成分之一。碳质气溶胶 (CA) 对气候和人类健康具有重大但尚未完全了解的影响，此外，其成分是空气中颗粒物 (PM) 不同“来源”的“指纹”特征的一部分。量化大气气溶胶中特定碳质浓度的一套方法非常丰富，但尚未确定完整的评估标准。在这篇评论文章中，我们总结了如此广泛和多学科领域的最新技术，重点关注光学和热光方法以及对更相关的开放问题的见解。