The results presented in this paper deal with the aerosol effects on light propagation in the coastal environment on the basis of measurements of aerosol extinction conducted on the Black Sea coast. The data recorded allows observation of sea-land interaction effects, in particular the influence of fetch on the variations of the aerosol extinction with the wavelength. The present results show the substantial contribution of the marine aerosol on the total extinction, and hence on the visibility close to the air-sea interface. This is confirmed by a comparison with extinction data recorded in other coastal sites in the northern hemisphere. This also shows the importance of the sea surface temperature on the sea spray production. The data are then compared to the predictions of the code MEDiterranean EXtinction (MEDEX), which was developed for the prediction of the aerosol extinction in the coastal atmosphere by Piazzola et al. (Opt. Eng. 42 (4) (2003) 912). Although minor discrepancies below wavelength of 1 pm are shown, a good agreement is found between the predictions of the code MEDEX and the Black Sea data. This shows that MEDEX may be more generally applicable to the Mediterranean area. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.