The impact of moderately absorbing aerosols on the energy budget over Central Europe is discussed, based on experimental observations and numerical simulations obtained for the summer of 2015. Aerosol events, defined as aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 500 nm greater than 0.15, especially in August, are mostly attributed to transport of biomass burning (BB) from Eastern Europe. Shortwave (SW) aerosol radiative forcings (ARF) at the surface and the top of the atmosphere (TOA) are estimated from ensembles of ten and eight observational and model-based approaches, respectively. Different measuring methods, including unmanned aviation system (UAS) and ground-based measurements, radiative transfer models, including MOTRAN and Fu-Liou, and parameterisations of aerosol optical properties regarding full vertical profiles, columnar and surface properties, are used in these approaches. The mean ARF is −15.9 ± 2.1 W/m2, -9.1 ± 1.4 W/m2, and 7.0 ± 1.0 W/m2, respectively, for the Earth's surface, TOA, and atmosphere under clear conditions for June–August 2015. During an aerosol event with AOD peak of about 0.6 at 500 nm, the daily mean surface, TOA, and atmosphere ARF are around −30, −18, and 13 W/m2, respectively. The mean ARF differences between all methods are about 4.0 W/m2 for the surface and about 2.3 W/m2 for the TOA, which correspond to 23% of ensemble means. Aerosols are also shown to have a significant impact on observed surface sensible and latent heat fluxes for the study period. Flux sensitivity to AOD for a solar zenith angle of 45° is −70 ± 41 W/m2/τ500, -112 ± 56 W/m2/τ500, and -119 ± 19 W/m2/τ500, respectively, for sensible, latent, and net SW and longwave (LW) radiation flux. When averaged over day time, sensitivities of sensible heat, latent heat fluxes, and net radiation fluxes to AOD are reduced by about 50%, 20%, and 70%, respectively.