The influence aerosols have on climate has long been recognised, but our ability to observe and quantify them on global scales came of age with the use of new satellite-based instruments and data products in recent decades. As instrumentation technologies improve alongside our abilities to handle large quantities of data and process using the latest data science approaches, the data products available to atmospheric science will only improve in decades to come. This opinion article tries to anticipate what tools and insights the community can look forward to in the near future.