Clouds are an important component of the atmospheric system, but the parameters controlling their variability are not well understood. Of particular interest with regards to anthropogenic modifications of cloud properties is the impact of the spatio-temporal aerosol variability. Past studies on aerosol-cloud interactions suggest a wide range of possible effects on the climate system. Recent studies suggest that the lacking quantitative agreement on aerosol-cloud interactions may be due to the methodological challenge of separating aerosol effects from other processes controlling cloud property distributions in the real world. Here we explore the use of high-resolution ensemble simulations to address the latter problem.