https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025AV001872
*Authors: *Ulas Im, Bjørn H. Samset, Athanasios Nenes, Jennie L. Thomas, et al. First published: *10 February 2026* https://doi.org/10.1029/2025AV001872 *Abstract* Aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) are a major source of uncertainty in climate science, critically affecting our ability to project near-term climate evolution and assess societal risks. These interactions influence effective radiative forcing, cloud dynamics, and precipitation patterns, yet remain insufficiently constrained due to limitations in observations, modeling, and process understanding. This uncertainty hampers robust policy advice across multiple domains—from estimating remaining carbon budgets and climate sensitivity, to anticipating regional extreme events and evaluating climate interventions such as solar radiation modification. In many cases, the influence of ACI is either underappreciated or excluded from decision-making frameworks due to its complexity and lack of quantification. This perspective outlines a path forward to overcome these barriers by leveraging emerging opportunities in satellite remote sensing, ground-based and airborne observations, high-resolution climate modeling, and machine learning. We identify key areas where rapid progress is feasible, including improved retrievals of cloud microphysical properties, better representation of natural aerosols in a warming world, and enhanced integration of observational and modeling communities. Even as anthropogenic aerosol and its impacts on clouds is reducing owing to emissions controls, addressing ACI uncertainties remains essential for refining climate projections, supporting effective mitigation and adaptation strategies, and delivering actionable science to policymakers in a rapidly changing climate system. *Plain Language Summary* Clouds have a big influence on Earth's climate. They affect how much sunlight is reflected or trapped, and how weather patterns form. But understanding clouds is very hard-especially how they interact with tiny particles in the air called aerosols. These particles come from human activities and sources like wildfires, volcanoes. The way aerosols and clouds affect each other is one of the most uncertain parts of climate science. Because of this uncertainty, it's difficult to make accurate predictions about climate change and to give clear advice to decision-makers. Scientists have made some progress in understanding aerosol-cloud interactions, but more work is needed. With better tools, observations, and computer models, we can learn more over the next decade. However, because the climate is changing quickly and impacts are getting worse, we need faster action now. This summary explains the current knowledge on how aerosols and clouds interact, and why it's important to reduce the uncertainty. It also highlights what steps can help improve our understanding-such as global collaboration and sharing knowledge between researchers, governments, and the public. Making faster progress in this area is key to better climate predictions, stronger climate policies, and lower risks for people and the planet. *Key Points* Aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) remain a barrier to provide precise and actionable advice to policy makers at global and regional levels We recommend improving satellite retrievals, expanding ground-based measurements, refining climate models, and advancing machine learning Collaboration across research communities will enhance understanding of ACI, the climate projections and policy recommendations *Source: AGU* -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/CAHJsh98MpWNy-99fydf1SX7bd1a8_Ofj9kWuDohpY9gf5MH2Jw%40mail.gmail.com.
