CERI 8104 Data Analysis in Geophysics
Fall 2023
TuTh 11:20-12:45
CERI New/Long Building - Student Computer Lab



Instructor: Bob Smalley
Office hours: when you see me in my office.

Frequency Domain integrand and Fourier sum to the Time Domain (top 2 panels) of two traveling delta functions and (third panel) their combination showing sum of integrands on left and factorized into product of cos(kx) and cos(wt) terms on right showing how delta function position is determined by where they are "in phase" (Smalley, 2009).

Course Description:

The course provides an overview of common tools used by geoscientists.

Homework assignments are designed to develop a working knowledge of a wide range of computer tools.

Topics will include programming in MATLAB®,  UNIX/LINUX (Ubuntu), Seismic Analysis Code (SAC), scripting (sh and csh), AWK, Generic Mapping Tools (GMT), PYTHON, network tools such as FTP, VNC, X display, and Adobe Illustrator, EXCEL, Web page development, and an overview of Fortran and C.

The course will be "lab based", a short presentation followed by hands on programming exercises on the CERI comptuer system, or your personal notebook, for the remainder of the class period.

Texts:

No "official" text. Some useful references and documentation follow.

For MATLAB you can download (open source) the book:

Programming for Computations - MATLAB/Octave A Gentle Introduction to Numerical Simulations with MATLAB/Octave

Please see the web pages for the course from previous years on
Bob Smalley's home page
for links to online textbooks, articles, tutorials, etc.

Course requirements:

Students must attend all labs. Class absences must be discussed PRIOR to the missed class.

Homework assignments must be handed in on time; grades will be reduced for each day late.

The class will include completing a computer based research project that uses the tools discussed in class.
The project can, but is not required to, be related to your primary research interest or topic.
The project must be approved before starting work.
The project should not also be used for another class you are currently taking.
Each student will give a presentation the last day of class.

Grading:

50% homework, 10% class participation, 40% final project.
There is no final exam.

Homework:

Homework assignments will be posted on the class web page.

Project:

Each student will design, implement and present a small-scale data analysis project.
The project should use programs and/or techniques discussed in the class.
Geophysics data is preferred and a project releated to the student's own research is encouraged.
Use of SAC, and/or MATLAB, and or PYTHON, and/or GMT as part of the project is mandatory.
The topic should be discussed with me, decided on and approved no later than Oct 19th (the 1st class after Fall Break).
Each student will give a PowerPoint presentation during the final exam period.
The project should be thoroughtly documented and all scripts/programs/macros turned in as part of the project.
There will be no final exam.