Wed 01/08/03 

Mon 01/13/03

Visit these web sites, and come to class ready to discuss the functions of a scientific society:

• AGU
• GSA
• AMS

Wed 01/15/03 

1. Discuss the importance of priority in scientific research, and the role of refereed and peer reviewed journals.
2. Understand the importance of abstracts, and the need for clear, concise, and informative abstracts.
3. Describe the importance of oral and poster presentations for scientific research. 

Wed 01/22/03 

Mon 01/27/03 

Background reading on computer fundamentals.

• Discuss scanning and the tradeoffs with selecting the dpi to use, and how this varies for printed and screen (Powerpoint or WWW) use.
• Discuss raster and vector computer devices.
• Understand the relationship between bits and bytes

Wed 01/29/03 

• What is the problem for society with coastal erosion
• How can we measure coastal erosion, and what are the difficulties involved?
• What does each each figure contribute to the paper

Mon 02/03/03 

Tufte summary

• Understand the challenge for earth scientists to place multiple dimensions of data on a 2D display.
• Resist the urge to use "chart junk" to make a graph more complex than needed 
• Discuss the case study on the shuttle Challenger's O-rings, and how a lack of focus on the graphics presented contributed to the decision to launch

Wed 02/05/03

MICRODEM Help file, Topics under Theory

• GIS
• Datum
• Projection

• Discuss the things users might want in a projection: equal-area, conformality.
• Discuss the three surfaces used to develop geometric projections.
• Discuss the measurements used to define an ellipsoid: a, b, f, and e².
• Discuss the historical and other reasons why different datums have been used.
• Discuss the difference between a local datum like NAD27 and an earth centered datum like WGS84.

Mon 02/10/03

MICRODEM Help file, 

Wed 02/12/03

Handout on altimeter hydrography

• Discuss the differences between traditional measurements of bathymetry and the use of satellite altimetry.
• Discuss what aspects of oceanography would benefit from better bathymetry.
• Discuss why satellite bathymetry has resolution limits, but is still attractive.

Wed 02/19/03

Mon 02/24/03

Wed 02/26/03

Mon 03/03/03

Wed 03/05/03

Mon 03/17/03

• Discuss what is found in a typical issue of EOS.
• Discuss how to read the help wanted ads in EOS.

Wed 03/19/03

USNA only

• Probing Tectonic Topography in the Aftermath of Continental Convergence in Central Europe (11 March)
• Ice Logging with Light and Sound (4 March)
• A New Deep-sea Towed Digital Camera and Multi-rock Coring System (25 Feb)

Mon 03/24/03

• Discuss why the Antarctic glacial history is important for global climate change
• Discuss how sea floor topography can reveal past ice motion
• Discuss how high resolution multi beam bathymetry improves our knowledge of the sea floor

Wed 03/26/03

1. Use the Nyquist frequency to develop a sampling strategy for a periodic function.
2. Describe the use of Fourier analysis to investigate the periodic nature of a time series.
3. Differentiate cross correlation and autocorrelation, and define lags and the correlation coefficient.

Mon 03/31/03

Wed 04/02/03

Mon 04/07/03 

Wed 04/09/03

EOS article on ASTER imagery and glacial danger

• Contrast and compare Physics Today with EOS.
• Discuss how the S/R ratio appears in the bands used with ASTER

Mon 04/14/03

Wed 04/16/03 

Mon 04/21/03

• Discuss what makes a good oral presentation.
• Understand the importance of proper citations in science, and how to organize a paper.

Wed 04/23/03

EOS, 4/15/03, Coral Bleaching

•  Discuss the key findings of these two papers, and why they are interest to a broad range of earth scientists.

Mon 04/28/03

lab1