Graduate Numerical Techniques for Atmosphere, Ocean and Earth Scientists: EOSC 511 / ATSC 506

Course Purpose

The students completing this course will be able to apply standard numerical solution techniques to problems in Oceanographic, Atmospheric and Earth Science.

Meeting Times

See canvas course page for scheduled class times and location

Instructors

Rachel White, rwhite@eoas.ubc.ca
Susan Allen, sallen@eoas.ubc.ca

See canvas course page for office hour locations

Prerequisites

The course assumes a mathematics background including vector calculus and linear algebra. Students weak in either of these areas will be directed to readings to strengthen their knowledge. Programming experience is greatly recommended.

Course Structure

This course is not lecture based. The course is an interactive, computer based laboratory course. The computer will lead you through the laboratory (like a set of lab notes) and you will answer problems most of which use the computer. The course consists of three parts. A set of required interactive, computer based laboratory exercises, a choice of elective laboratory exercises and a project. The project will be a group project determined through consultation between the instructors, the students and their supervisors.

During the meeting times, there will be group worksheets to delve into the material, brief presentations to help with technical matters, time to ask questions in a group format and also individually and time to read and work on the laboratories.

You can use a web-browser to examine the course exercises. Point your browser to:

https://rhwhite.github.io/numeric_2024/notebook_toc.html

Grades

  • Laboratory Exercises 15% (individual with collaboration, satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading)

  • Quizzes 5% (individual)

  • Worksheets 5% (group)

  • Mini-project 15% (individual with collaboration)

  • Project Proposal 10% (group)

  • Project 40% (group)

  • Project Oral Presentation 10% (group)

There will be 7 assigned exercise sets or ‘Laboratory Exercises’ based on the labs. Note that these are not necessarily the same as the problems in the lab and will generally be a much smaller set. Laboratory exercises can be worked with partners or alone. Each student must upload their own solution in their own words.

The laboratory exercise sets are to be uploaded to the course CANVAS page. Sometimes, rather than a large series of plots, you may wish to include a summarizing table. If you do not understand the scope of a problem, please ask. Help with the labs is available 1) through piazza (see CANVAS) so you can contact your classmates and ask them 2) during the weekly scheduled lab or 3) directly from the instructors during the scheduled office hours (see canvas).

Laboratory exercises will be graded as ‘excellent’, ‘satisfactory’ or ‘unsatisfactory’. Your grade on canvas will be given as:

1.0 = excellent

0.8 = satisfactory

0 = unsatisfactory

Grades will be returned within a week of the submission deadline. If you receive a grade of ‘satisfactory’ or ‘unsatisfactory’ on your first submission, you will be given an opportunity to resubmit the problems you got incorrect to try to improve your grade. To get a score of ‘excellent’ on a resubmission, you must include a full explanation of your understanding of why your initial answer was incorrect, and what misconception, or mistake, you have corrected to get to your new answer. Resubmissions will be due exactly 2 weeks after the original submission deadline. It is your responsibility to manage the timing of the resubmission deadlines with the next laboratory exercise.

Your final Laboratory Exercise grade will be calculated from the number of excellent, satisfactory and unsatisfactory grades you have from the 7 exercises: 5 or more submissions at ‘Excellent’, none ‘Unsatisfactory’: 100% 3 or more submissions at ‘Excellent’, none ‘Unsatisfactory’: 90% 1 or fewer ‘Excellent’, none ‘Unsatisfactory’: 80% 1 ‘Unsatisfactory’ submission: 70% 2 ‘Unsatisfactory’ submissions: 60% 3 ‘Unsatisfactory’ submissions: 50% 4 or more ‘Unsatisfactory’ submissions: 0%: [1]

Quizzes are done online, reflect the learning objectives of each lab and are assigned to ensure you do the reading with enough depth to participate fully in the class worksheets and have the background to do the Laboratory Exercises. There will be a “grace space” policy allowing you to miss one quiz.

The in-class worksheets will be marked for a complete effort. There will be a “grace space” policy allowing you to miss one class worksheet. The grace space policy is to accommodate missed classes due to illness, “away games” for athletes etc. In-class paper worksheets are done as a group and are to handed in (one worksheet only per group) at the end of the worksheet time.

The project will be done in groups of three to four. The project topic is to be chosen in consultation with your research supervisors and the instructors. The subject of these projects has to be ocean or atmosphere related unless the group has identified an outside supervisor who is willing to provide subject specific advice. Students without ocean/atmosphere expertise can join a ocean/atmopsheric sciences group - it will be up to the group to figure out where and how they can best contribute to the project.

Assignments, quizzes, mini-projects and the project are expected on time. Late mini-projects and projects will be marked and then the mark will be multiplied by \((0.9)^{\rm (number\ of\ days\ or\ part\ days\ late)}\).

Set Laboratories

Recommended timing. Problems to be handed in can be found on the webpage.

  • Laboratory One: One Week

  • Laboratory Two: One Week

  • Laboratory Three: One Week

  • Laboratory Four: One and a Half Weeks

  • Laboratory Five: Half a Week

  • Laboratory Seven: One Week

Elective Laboratories

Choose the one large lab (10 points) or two small labs (5 points). Time scale: one and a half weeks.

ODE’s

  • Rest of Lab 5 (5 points)

  • Lab 6 (5 points)

PDE’s

  • End of Lab 7 (5 points)

  • Lab 8 (10 points)

  • Lab 10 (5 points)

FFT’s

  • Lab 9 (5 points)

Project

  • Done in groups of three or four. Chosen in consultation with your research supervisors and the instructors. Should be chosen before the elective labs.

  • Time scale three and half weeks.

University Statement on Values and Policies

UBC provides resources to support student learning and to maintain healthy lifestyles but recognizes that sometimes crises arise and so there are additional resources to access including those for survivors of sex- ual violence. UBC values respect for the person and ideas of all members of the academic community. Harassment and discrimination are not tolerated nor is suppression of academic freedom. UBC provides appropriate accommodation for students with disabilities and for religious and cultural observances. UBC values academic honesty and students are expected to acknowledge the ideas generated by others and to uphold the highest academic standards in all of their actions. Details of the policies and how to access support are available here

https://senate.ubc.ca/policies-resources-support-student-success.

Supporting Diversity and Inclusion

Atmospheric Science, Oceanography and the Earth Sciences have been historically dominated by a small subset of privileged people who are predominantly male and white, missing out on many influential individuals thoughts and experiences. In this course, we would like to create an environment that supports a diversity of thoughts, perspectives and experiences, and honours your identities. To help accomplish this:

  • Please let us know your preferred name and/or set of pronouns.

  • If you feel like your performance in our class is impacted by your experiences outside of class, please don’t hesitate to come and talk with us. We want to be a resource for you and to help you succeed.

  • If an approach in class does not work well for you, please talk to any of the teaching team and we will do our best to make adjustments. Your suggestions are encouraged and appreciated.

  • We are all still learning about diverse perspectives and identities. If something was said in class (by anyone) that made you feel uncomfortable, please talk to us about it

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to learn material with honesty, integrity, and responsibility.

  • Honesty means you should not take credit for the work of others, and if you work with others you are careful to give them the credit they deserve.

  • Integrity means you follow the rules you are given and are respectful towards others and their attempts to do so as well.

  • Responsibility means that you if you are unclear about the rules in a specific case you should contact the instructor for guidance.

The course will involve a mixture of individual and group work. We try to be flexible about this as my priority is for you to learn the material rather than blindly follow rules, but there are rules. Plagiarism (i.e. copying of others work) and cheating (not following the rules) can result in penalties ranging from zero on an assignment to failing the course.

For due dates etc, please see the Detailed Schedule.

Not feeling well before class?

What to do if you’re sick: If you’re sick, it’s important that you stay home, no matter what you think you may be sick with (e.g., cold, flu, other). If you do miss class because of illness: • Make a connection early in the term to another student or a group of students in the class. You can help each other by sharing notes. If you don’t yet know anyone in the class, post on Piazza to connect with other students. • Consult the class resources on this website and on canvas. We will post the materials for each class day. • In this class, the marking scheme is intended to provide flexibility so that you can prioritize your health and are still be able to succeed. As such, there is a “grace space” policy allowing you to miss one in-class worksheet and one pre-class quiz with no penalty. • If you are concerned that you will miss a particular key activity due to illness, contact us to discuss.

If an instructor is sick: we will do our best to stay well, but if either of us is ill, here is what you can expect: • The other instructor will substitute • Your TA may help run a class • We may have a synchronous online session or two. If this happens, you will receive an email.