Abstract: CMAQ (4.7.1) model was employed, in combination with gaseous pollutants data of aircraft observation data from China’s east coastal areas as well as from Qingdao city, Jinan city and Xi’an city from March 22th to April 26th 2011, to analyze the vertical distribution of gaseous pollutants. The results showed that the simulated data were in well consistent with the observed data and there existed obvious vertical distribution and temporal variation characteristics. Concentrations of pollutants in the vertical direction decreased with height on the whole and mainly concentrated at below 3 000 m; the distribution of pollutant concentration in horizontal direction coincided well with that of polluting sources, both increased from edges to centers of the cities. The analysis of trajectory clusters and source receptor apportionment found that pollutants in the east coast in spring mainly came from Shandong, Beijing-Jianjin-Hebei, Jiangsu and Liaoning provinces/municipalities; the contribution rate of contaminants from Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and background, boundary conditions gradually increased as the altitude increased at different receptor sites.