My main motivation in studying aerosols is that we need to understand them better in order to improve our understanding of climate change. Aerosols scatter sunlight (that’s why they can make the air look hazy). Aerosols also are needed for clouds to form, and the amount, size and composition of the aerosols can affect the properties of clouds, such as how much sunlight they reflect and how long they last. Some key ideas are explained in this animation from my old research group, the CLOUD collaboration:
