The formation of ice crystals have important implications for stratospheric ozone chemistry, cloud dynamics, rock weathering, and hydrate formation etc., however the exact mechanisms by which microscopic particulate matter 'seeds' ice-crystals are unknown.

Atmospheric dust (clay dust etc) and microscopic organisms are known to seed clouds, but there is currently no explanation as to why some varieties are very effective and others are not.

The phenomenon is currently exploited in cloud seeding procedures to induce rainfall.

Cirrus clouds for example, which cover about 30% of the Earth’s surface, are formed from ice crystals, the majority of which have been seeded by a particle (in the process known as heterogeneous nucleation).

Cirrus clouds play an important role in the radiative budget of the Earth. Due to scattering and absorption of the solar as well as terrestrial radiation the cirrus cloud cover may influence significantly the Earth climate. How the cirrus clouds exactly form, is still unknown."

Source : ETH Zurich, 2016

Further info:

How aerosol particles act as nuclei for ice and other crystalline phases like hydrates, and how this can quantitatively be described in models, are among the major open questions in atmospheric cloud and climate research."

Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research

Note: The question also arises in the formation of snow flakes, which are also often 'seeded' with microscopic particulate matter at their centre. Exactly how the particles facilitate the flakes to form is unknown.

See :Snowflake formationplugin-autotooltip__plain plugin-autotooltip_bigSnowflake formation

Snowflakes mostly form in two different types - plate-like and column-like - but there are many others, including needle-like, prism-like and star-like etc.. Although the many types have been extensively documented, and have been found to be temperature dependent (e.g. large stellar types only grow in a narrow temperature range around -15C) the molecular physics driving the different shape formations at different temperatures is poorly understood.

Also see : Crystallizationplugin-autotooltip__plain plugin-autotooltip_bigCrystallization

Crystallization is the process by which a solid forms from solution, where the atoms or molecules become highly organized and form a structure.

Some aspects of the process, particularly nucleation is still not completely understood, despite intensive research going back more than a century. and Aviation contrails (climate impact)plugin-autotooltip__plain plugin-autotooltip_bigAviation contrails (climate impact)

Jet engines used in commercial and military aircraft typically burn carbon-based fuels (e.g. kerosene). When the fuel burns, a by-product is CO2, which is a potent greenhouse gas and contributes towards global warming.

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