The radiative impact of black carbon (BC) aerosols on the climate remains largely uncertain. A major source of this uncertainty is related to realistic simulation of the BC vertical distribution in climate models. Here, we use Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) extinction measurements to vertically redistribute the prescribed BC concentration in a set of sensitivity experiments with Community Atmosphere Model version 4 (CAM4). We investigate the global and regional climate response to the redistributed BC vertical profiles to examine and understand the role of BC vertical distribution on global and regional climate.