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.

Topic covered in this session include:
- Cloud and aerosol macro- and microphysical properties, precipitation formation mechanisms
- 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
- Use of observational simulators to constrain aerosols and clouds in models
- Experimental cloud and aerosol studies
- Aerosol, cloud and radiation interactions and feedbacks in the climate system

Invited Speaker
Paquita Zuidema (RSMAS, University of Miami)
Leo Donner (NOAA GFDL)