Clouds and aerosols play a key role in climate and weather-related processes over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. An initial forcing due to changes in the aerosol concentration and composition may also be enhanced or dampened by feedback processes such as modified cloud dynamics, surface exchange or atmospheric circulation patterns. This session aims to link research activities in observations and modelling of radiative, dynamical and microphysical processes of clouds and aerosols and their interactions. Studies addressing several aspects of the aerosol-cloud-radiation-precipitation system are encouraged. Contributions related to the EU project “Impact of Biogenic versus Anthropogenic emissions on Clouds and Climate: towards a Holistic UnderStanding (BACCHUS)” are also invited.

Specific topics of the session are:

- Cloud and aerosol macro- and microphysical properties
- Precipitation formation mechanisms
- Experimental cloud and aerosol studies
- The role of aerosols and clouds for the radiative energy budget
- Observational constraints on aerosol-cloud interactions
- Cloud-resolving modelling
- Parameterization of cloud and aerosol microphysics/dynamics/radiation in GCMs
- Aerosol, cloud and radiation interactions and feedbacks in the climate system
- Use of observational simulators to constrain aerosols and clouds in models

Invited speakers:

- Ellie Highwood (Reading, UK)
- Andreas Macke (TROPOS, Germany)
- Wojciech Grabowski (NCAR, USA)