Objectives:
The overall goals of this course are to provide basic Matlab programming skills, a deeper understanding of various important topics in geophysics (such as earthquake seismology, seismic wave propagation, gravity, magnetics and plate tectonics) and how Matlab programming can be used to study these geophysical topics. This is done by giving a general introduction to Matlab, especially using programming exercises, by teaching a selection of the above mentioned geophysical topics, and finally by linking Matlab and geophysics using specific Matlab exercises related to these geophysical topics.
Content:
In this course the students will acquire basic skills in Matlab programming, an intermediate understanding of various topics in geophysics and understand how these are linked. Matlab programming is introduced using a variety of techniques, with a special emphasis on programming exercises. The Matlab part of the course includes the use of about 70 Matlab commands as well as a basic introduction to programming techniques (such as program structure (input, computations and output), designing and testing a program, commenting and basic debugging techniques). These Matlab skills are used in the creation and manipulation of arrays and matrices, plotting (1D and 2D), reading and writing files, polar and spherical coordinates, basic statistics, 1D integration and 1D differentiation. The geophysical part of the course is taken from a variety of important geophysical topics in seismology, magnetics, gravity and plate tectonics. Applications of these topics in Matlab include the computation of epicentral distances, the computation of travel times, analysis of seismicity (local/regional/global) and computation of the magnetic field.
On completion of the course the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:
Knowledge
The student
Skills
The student
General competence
The student
Total teaching of 12 weeks
Teaching using active learning techniques: 4 hours/week,
Supervised exercise sessions: 2 hours/week
All exam parts must be passed to get final assessment in the course.