AOSC 652: Analysis Methods in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science
Instructors: Ross Salawitch
MWF, 12:45 to 1:50 pm, CSS 3426
Fall 2014: 3 units
Primary
textbooks to be used throughout the course:
FORTRAN 77 Programming (2nd edition, 1990) by T. M. R. Ellis
Numerical Recipes in FORTRAN 77: The Art of Scientific Computing (2nd edition, 1992) by William H. Press et al.
(available on-line at http://www.nrbook.com/a/bookfpdf.php )
Numerical Analysis by Richard L. Burden and J. Douglas Faires
Specialty textbooks to be used for various portions of the course:
An Introduction to Programming with IDL: Interactive Data Language by Kenneth P. Bowman
Numerical Computing with MATLAB by Cleve Moler
The following webpage, prepared by AOSC students for AOSC students prior to this course being taught, provides a wealth of information. Please explore the contents as this course evolves:
Please do not be intimidated by the
large number of books. The instructors will guide our movement from
"book to book" as the course proceeds. Most readings are
available on-line (we will provide direct links as the course proceeds).
For readings not available on-line, we will provide copies and/or and place
books "on reserve", so that students may copy the material of
interest. Each student will be able to "rent" a copy of the
Ellis book, the primary source material for the FORTRAN section of the course,
from the instructors (we have acquired a substantial number of copies of this
excellent book, which is out of print, enabling it to be used for the
course). Finally, to become a proficient practitioner of the "tools
of the trade", one must learn how to acquire and implement numerical
algorithms from a variety of sources. This course will provide an ample
number of examples of such algorithm acquisitions.
This
course will be comprised of “hands on” lessons in the development of code to
solve a variety of numerical problems and to visualize data, taught in a
Computer Instructional Laboratory in a Linux environment. Will cover topics
such as Least Squares Fitting, Spline Fitting, Numerical Integration,
Newton-Raphson Minimization, Statistical Methods, Fourier Analysis, Solutions
of Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations, and Analysis and Visualization
of a variety of satellite observations.
Typically, the first meeting of each week
will be devoted to white board lecture of the weekly topic. The second meeting
of each week will be conducted using projection of an active computer monitor,
showing code development related to the weekly topic. An assignment will be
given at the end of the second meeting. The third meeting of each week will
be devoted to reviewing previous homework assignments, clarifying questions
about prior lecture notes, and in class work on the assigned problem,
which will be due (code plus numerical and/or graphical results) at the
start of the first lecture of the following week. Assigned problems will be
drawn from real world examples of the various topics in atmospheric and oceanic
sciences: for example, an assignment on statistical methods may be based on
time series of temperature in Washington, DC; an assignment on Fourier analysis
may relate to the Vostok climate record.
The objective of the course is to
provide students experience in the development of code to solve a variety of
numerical problems they are likely to encounter during their dissertation
research and subsequent careers. The students will be exposed to FORTRAN,
IDL, and MATLAB
during the various exercises. We will also work with modern data formats
such as HDF5 and NetCDF as well as modern graphical tools such as Google
Earth. Introduction to these languages will be a natural component of the
curriculum.
|
Week |
Topic |
|
Intro to Linux & Text Editing |
|
|
Intro to FORTRAN: Simple
Computations |
|
|
Intro to Graphics & Analysis of Satellite
Measurements of Atmos. Comp. |
|
|
Getting to know FORTRAN: Data
Sorting,Input/Output, and Simple Statistics |
|
|
Least Squares Analysis, Statistical Regression, and
Spline Fitting |
|
|
Numerical Integration |
|
|
Root Finding & Function Minimization |
|
|
Introduction
to MATLAB |
|
|
Fourier Analysis (MATLAB & FORTRAN) |
|
|
Introduction to IDL and Satellite Data
Visualization |
|
|
HDF & NetCDF; Multiple Linear Regression; File
Compression & Data Access |
|
|
Differential Equations (ODE & PDE) |
|
|
Review of HWs #11 & 12; Quiz on ODE/PDEs for those who opt out of HW #12 |
|
|
Work on Computationally Based Project |
|
|
Continue Work on Computationally Based Project |
|
|
Project Presentations |
Grades will be determined based on attendance and participation (10%), weekly assigned projects (70%), and a final project (20%) that will be chosen either by each student or from a list of suggested final projects. Assignments are meant to be turned in on time. There will be a penalty (points per days late) for various assignments, announced as class progresses, that will be imposed unless an arrangement has been made for extenuating circumstances prior to the due date. The last two weeks of class will be devoted to the final project. The final project will emphasize application of the tools of the class to a problem of current interest in the geophysical sciences. We are not planning on having either a mid-term or final exam. Grades will be based solely on the weekly programming assignments, the final project, and class attendance and participation.
4. Enrollment Requirements
The course is open to students with a basic scientific background. Successful completion of freshman calculus and physics is required. No past programming experience, or experience in Linux or Unix, is required.
5. Collaboration Policy
For assigned programming projects, you may consult any texts or websites you desire. However, the work you turn in must reflect only your own code development. General course concepts, syntax issues, questions about an assignment, etc. may be discussed with other students. For certain programming assignments, clearly blocks of code are intended to be taken (in some cases copied) from either a text book or some other reference source. Again, we require that the code you turn in reflect your own code development using these resources and not be copied from another student. Details of the University of Maryland Honor Code can be found at the Student Honor Council website as well as the Testudo website.
6. Office Hours
Office Hours: by appointment only. Note: each week's
Friday class will be run like an hour long "office hour", in the
class room setting.
Office Locations: Ross Salawitch – CSS
(bldg 224),
room 2403 phone: 5-5396
Website last updated Saturday, 06 December 2014.
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