The tropopause aerosol layer (TAL) represents the increase of aerosols in tropopause. It was first discovered over Asia but was found in this study to also occur over South America and Africa owing to the combined effects of monsoon dynamics and pollutant emissions. Over Asia, the TAL has the highest altitude and widest spread due to strong deep convection and the upper troposphere anticyclonic system there. TAL intensity is highest in South America due to heavy pollutant emissions. Anthropogenic pollution from India and western China produces two Asian TAL centers, whereas widespread wildfires result in single centers over South America and Africa. TAL radiative forcing induced by carbonaceous aerosols at the top of the atmosphere has warming effects over Asia (+0.21 W m−2), whereas cooling effects occur over South America (−0.47 W m−2) and Africa (−0.12 W m−2) owing to the divergent strengths of black-carbon absorption and organic-carbon scattering.