– By Ellen Gute, Abbatt Research Group, University of Toronto –

Clouds are a crucial part of our Earth’s atmosphere as they redistribute water resources and contribute to the atmosphere’s radiative forcing (Pruppacher and Klett 1997; Lohmann 2006). Ice is present in many clouds and is known to play a central role in precipitation formation. Despite the important role in climate, processes associated with clouds represent some of the largest uncertainties in climate models