Qpack, a general tool for instrument simulation and retrieval work

Remote sensing requires a complete observation system, consisting of the instrument, a forward model and a retrieval environment. This paper presents a software tool to complement atmospheric sensors, with focus on passive instruments operating in the mm and sub-mm wavelength regions. The tool is of general character and offers a complete, flexible and fast calculation environment, demonstrated in both preparatory instrument studies and operational inversions. Its features include a rapid approach for modelling of sensor characteristics, several types of data reduction, simple definition of covariance matrices, a large number of retrieval and error quantities, inversion characterisation and random realisation of measurements. The software is freely available for scientific use.