About gaseous (clear-air) attenuation
Even with no rain or cloud, the atmosphere absorbs radio energy through two gases: oxygen (with a strong absorption complex around 60 GHz and weaker effects below) and water vapour (with a notable absorption line at 22.235 GHz). This calculator implements the ITU-R P.676-11 Annex 2 method — the approximate equivalent-height method, pinned to that revision because Annex 2 was restructured in P.676-12.
What it computes
Specific attenuation γ = γ_o + γ_w (dB/km) at your surface conditions, then the zenith attenuation via equivalent heights (A = γ_o·h_o + γ_w·h_w) and the slant-path loss A / sin(θ) for elevation angle θ.
Gaseous loss is small compared with rain at Ku/Ka-band but is not negligible — especially near the 22 GHz water line and for low elevation angles or humid sites. Add it alongside the rain-fade term in your link budget. This implementation is valid for 1–54 GHz (below the 60 GHz oxygen complex) and for elevation angles of 5°–90°, which is the range over which Annex 2's cosecant law holds; lower angles need the full path integration of Annex 1, so an elevation below 5° is raised to 5° and flagged. Zenith attenuation from this method is accurate to about ±10% for dry air and ±5% for water vapour up to roughly 10 km altitude. All computation runs locally in your browser.