BEAM: a fast versatile model for atmospheric absorption coefficients from 0 to 1000 GHz

The Institute of Applied Physics has developed a new model, called BEAM, for the simulation of microwave propagation in the atmosphere. The model is very flexible and can be used for simulations as well as operational retrievals. Microwave spectra are calculated using data from the JPL and HITRAN spectroscopic databases as well as the millimeter wave propagation model MPM-93. An new automatic frequency selection algorithm can increase the speed of the calculations by a factor of 10-100 under certain conditions.