Satellite data from various platforms show that the Himalayas act as a barrier that separates a region of abundant aerosols in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) from the region of pristine air at high altitude in the Tibetan plateau. Either via radiative forcing (absorbing and scattering solar radiation) or via cloud microphysics, this strong gradient in aerosol concentration appears to be linked to the spatial and temporal variability of orographic precipitation and surface water and energy budgets along the southern slopes of the Himalayas. To characterize these linkages, we present an assessment of the spatial scale of aerosols and space-time modulation of rainfall using aerosol data products from TOMS, MISR, MODIS and rainfall data products from TRMM. Finally, exploratory data analysis tools including scaling, principal components and wavelets among others will be used to characterize the joint space-time variability for aerosols, cloudiness and rainfall.