SIOG 230 Introduction to Inverse Theory
Spring 2021
Meets Tues/Thurs 2:00-3:20 pm
Instructor: Cathy Constable

Prerequisites: graduate standing or consent of instructor; familiarity with topics covered in SIOG 223A.

This web page will be a repository for class notes, assignments, and other items of possible interest for SIOG 230 a graduate class on geophysical inverse theory.  Class meets twice a week for 1.5 hours, and will be a mixture of lectures, discussions, and some student presentations. Students can select S/U or letter grades, which will be assigned on the basis of participation in discussion, class presentations, and timely completion and performance on homework assignments. Homework will include assigned reading and problem sets, which will require the use of MATLAB, Python, or another suitable programming language of your choice. It is assumed that you have (or will rapidly develop) sufficient skill to use whatever language you choose for this purpose. Homework will generally be graded on the basis of your written commentary on how you solved the problem, including your ability to document your mathematical and physical approach to the solution, and evaluate whether you have arrived at a sensible result. Please make sure that homework submitted electronically is in the form of a single concisely presented pdf file.

03/30/2021 : The first class will be March 30 at 2pm. I will give an overview of Geophysical Inverse Theory from the Pragmatic Users Perspective. Material will be drawn from a slide deck you can download from here. My plan is to cover material from slides 1-20, which will set the scene for initial lectures, and return to the remaining material later in the quarter.

Syllabus : Here is the list of topics, a brief description of class goals and a list of supplementary references including some linear algebra and statistics books. These will be updated as we progress through the quarter. Bob Parker has made available his supplementary notes from when he taught the class in 2009. You can download the pdf here.

If you feel you need to brush up on your linear algebra, read Appendix A of Aster et al. (pages 219-249 of the first edition in the IGPP reading room or 283-314 of the 2nd edition if you have access to that).

HOMEWORK 1: on 04/01, please bring to class your example of a forward problem of interest. Be prepared to explain it to the rest of the class.

 

The slide deck I will be working from during lectures will be made available as we go along.

 


Cathy Constable ( cconstable@ucsd.edu )