GORRAM: Introducing accurate operational-speed radiative transfer Monte Carlo solvers

•A new fast approach for solving integrable equations is proposed.•The method incorporates Monte Carlo, simulated annealing, path recycling.•Monte Carlo radiative transfer solvers can be accelerated up to operational speed.•The resulting solvers can compete with other fast forward models.•The method has potential to solve integrable equations beyond radiative transfer.

We present a new approach for solving the radiative transfer equation in horizontally homogeneous atmospheres. The motivation was to develop a fast yet accurate radiative transfer solver to be used in operational retrieval algorithms for next generation meteorological satellites. The core component is the program GORRAM (Generator Of Really Rapid Accurate Monte-Carlo) which generates solvers individually optimized for the intended task. These solvers consist of a Monte Carlo model capable of path recycling and a representative set of photon paths. Latter is generated using the simulated annealing technique. GORRAM automatically takes advantage of limitations on the variability of the atmosphere. Due to this optimization the number of photon paths necessary for accurate results can be reduced by several orders of magnitude. For the shown example of a forward model intended for an aerosol satellite retrieval, comparison with an exact yet slow solver shows that a precision of better than 1% can be achieved with only 36 photons. The computational time is at least an order of magnitude faster than any other type of radiative transfer solver. Merely the lookup table approach often used in satellite retrieval is faster, but on the other hand suffers from limited accuracy. This makes GORRAM-generated solvers an eligible candidate as forward model in operational-speed retrieval algorithms and data assimilation applications. GORRAM also has the potential to create fast solvers of other integrable equations.