AIDA experiments on heterogeneous ice nucleation in warm mixed-phase clouds

Clouds are important regulators of the Earth’s temperature, because they scatter shortwave radiation from the sun back to space (cooling effect) and absorb long wave terrestrial radiation from the Earth surface (warming effect). About 60% of the Earth’s surface is covered with clouds at any time. The response of cloud characteristics and precipitation processes to changing natural and anthropogenic aerosol sources is one of the largest uncertainties in the current understanding of climate change.