Clouds and precipitation are defining elements of weather and climate. Their occurrence is strongly determined by the dynamic forcing and thermodynamic conditions, but also by moisture and aerosol availability, and cloud microphysical processes. Clouds in turn influence the evolution of the atmospheric flow, thermodynamic conditions, and aerosol properties. Physical understanding of these complex interactions is a major challenge as is the representation of the moist atmosphere in operational weather forecasting and climate models. We are working on a fully integrated view of cloud microphysics, aerosol science, and atmospheric dynamics with particular foci on
(i) comprehensive physical process understanding,
(ii) full integration of aspects from all three disciplines into field campaign planning, model evaluation, and the analysis of climate and weather data, and
(iii) representation of cloud microphysical / aerosol uncertainty in ensemble weather forecasting.