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EOSC 211 - Computer Methods in Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences

Course Description

Mathematical computer-based problem solving in the physical, chemical, and biological sciences. Problems drawn from studies of the earth, the oceans and the atmosphere.

UBC Calendar

For a full listing of course offerings please see the UBC calendar description

Learning Goals

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

understand the principles of programming, and be able to recognize good programming style
write simple programs in MATLAB using good style
understand the principles of visual presentation
make scientifically informative plots of different kinds of data
perform a number of tasks useful for computational problem solving in Earth Sciences.

Instructors

Rich Pawlowicz, Phil Austin

TAs: Olivier Riche & Jean-Francois Guertin

Textbook

Required reading: "Problem Solving Using MATLAB - EOSC211" (Custom text, ISBN 0536195978, available UBC bookstore)

Suggested reading (if you already know how to program): "Mastering MATLAB 7" by Duane C. Hanselman and Bruce L. Littlefield Prentice Hall, 2004, ISBN: 0131430181

This course will require access to MATLAB, which can be purchased from the UBC bookstore by students for their personal laptops, or is available in the EOSC computer lab on payment of the annual lab account fee ($25).

Course Content

Course Information (pdf)

Link to lecture notes/labs/assignments

Lecture Topics

More details on lecture / lab topics here (pdf)

WEEK	TOPIC	WEEK CONSISTS OF...
01	Course introduction	2 lectures
02	The MATLAB environment: how to load, save & display data. Using Matlab "help".	2 lectures, 1 lab
03	MATLAB data structures: dealing with 1-D (time series) and 2-D (geographic) arrays.	2 lectures, 1 lab(1%)
04	Computer math & programming style: analyzing data sets.	2 lectures, 1 lab(1%)
05	Programming Control Structures: how to develop algorithms, debugging and testing strategies.	2 lectures, 1 lab(1%), Assignment 1 due (10%)
06	MATLAB syntax and structures: implementing algorithm development	2 lectures, 1 lab (1%)
07	More sophisticated i/o. Review for midterm.	1 lecture, 1 lab (1%), MIDTERM (15%), Assignment 2 due (10%)
08	Procedural Abstraction	2 lectures, 1 lab (1%)
09	Advanced Plotting	2 lectures, 1 lab (1%), Assignment 3 due (10%)
10	Software Design: Efficiency, designing for readability.	2 lectures, 1 lab (1%)
11	What makes a nice plot?	1 lectures, no lab, Assignment 4 due MONDAY (10%)
12	Matrix Algebra and MATLAB: modeling data,	2 lectures, 1 lab (1%)
13	Curve-fitting	1 lecture, 1 lab (1%), REVIEW for final exam (25%), Assignment 5 due (10%)

Labs

Labs will cover practical issues associated with the week's topic, and will usually require some time in addition to the scheduled time slot. Most labs will require submittal of code for run-testing .

Other 200's

EOSC 210
EOSC 211
EOSC 212
EOSC 217
EOSC 220
EOSC 221
EOSC 222
EOSC 223
EOSC 250
EOSC 252
EOSC 256
EOSC 270