University of Galway

Course Module Information

Course Modules

Semester 1 | Credits: 5

This module provides students undertaking research in Oceanography, Earth sciences or Environmental projects with some of the key skills they will need for their Masters or PhD project work. These skills include mathematics for scientists, MATLAB and Labview programming, analysis of large oceanographic and earth science data (ODV and GMT) and an introduction to applying these tools to key earth and ocean processes (e.g. tides, seismic waves, climate time series etc). The course will consist of a weekly lecture over the course of the semester which will provide guidance on practical exercises to be completed by the class. Course load is 10 hours per week; 1 hour of lectures, 2 hours of practical, 3 hours for practical assignments and 4 hours of directed reading: 12 x10 = 120 hours over the semester.
(Language of instruction: English)

Learning Outcomes
  1. Demonstrate an understanding of the mathematical methods used to analyze Earth, Marine and Environmental sciences on spatial and temporal scales.
  2. write computer programs in Matlab or Labview (R and Python optional) for processing and displaying data.
  3. Analyse common oceanographic data, including Sentinel, ARGO, WOCE, CDIAC and GEOTRACES IODP datasets, using ODV or Matlab.
  4. locate and use online data sources for essential ocean variables (EOVs).
  5. Collect and display data from a variety of data formats (netcdf, HDF, ascii etc)
Assessments
  • Continuous Assessment (100%)
Teachers
Reading List
  1. "Modeling Methods for Marine Science" by Glover, Jenkins and Doney
    ISBN: 9780521867832.
    Publisher: Cambridge University Press
  2. "Matlab Recipes for Earth Scientists" by Trauth
    ISBN: 9783662462430.
    Publisher: Springer
  3. "Data Analysis Methods in Physical Oceanography" by Thomson and Emery
    ISBN: 9780123877826.
    Publisher: Elsevier
The above information outlines module EOS610: "Introduction to Data Analysis Tools for Earth and Ocean studies" and is valid from 2018 onwards.
Note: Module offerings and details may be subject to change.