IRIS USArray Data Processing and Analysis Short Course, 2016
Northwestern University, Evanston, United States

Instructors: Chuck Ammon (Penn State University), Heather DeShon (Southern Methodist University), Marianne Karplus (University of Texas - El Paso), Meghan Miller (University of Southern California), Rob Porritt (University of Arizona), Stefany Sit (University of Illinois - Chicago), Suzan van der Lee (Northwestern University), Erin Wirth (University of Washington), Justin Sweet (IRIS), Danielle Sumy (IRIS)

This course will introduce its participants to the foundations of seismic data analysis for the next generation of geoscientists. Its aim is to convey best practices for accessing and downloading large datasets, jump start familiarity with common processing, analysis, and visualization tools, and impart a framework to develop more effective handling of data from large seismic datasets, such as the USArray. No previous experience in these topics is required, though a basic understanding in seismology, as well as familiarity with programming and the unix operating environment are helpful and preferred. This course is geared mostly towards incoming graduate students.

Participants are selected by the course instructors based on the information provided in their applications. Lodging, most meals, and travel expenses up to a certain limit will be covered for selected applicants by financial support from the National Science Foundation through the "Seismological Facilities for the Advancement of Geoscience and EarthScope" award to IRIS. 

Please note: International participants are welcome to apply, but are responsible for their expenses and logistics if traveling from outside of the U.S. Attendees from previous USArray Short Courses should not apply to this course. For more information, contact Danielle Sumy.

The course will be held on the campus of Northwestern University, 45 minutes north of downtown Chicago along Lake Michigan. Guidance regarding travel and lodging will be conveyed directly to accepted participants.

Pre-Course MaterialsExercises will be performed over Virtual Machine with built-in tutorials and information to work on a set of lessons relating to Unix, GMT, and SAC – Stefany

Day 1: Introduction to IRIS and USArray (Key Research Tools)

7:20 am
7:40 am

Meet in Hotel Lobby (Hilton Orrington)

7:40 am
8:10 am

BREAKFAST: Technological Institute on Northwestern campus

8:10 am
8:30 am

Depart for Library

8:30 am
9:00 am

Welcome and Logistics – Danielle, Rob and Suzan

9:00 am
9:45 am

Overview of IRIS and USArray: the facility, data, and science – Justin

9:45 am
10:15 am

Installing common programs/applications on a research computer – Rob

10:15 am
11:00 am

Unix/shell scripting/GMT – Stefany

  • Review of pre-course “homework”
  • Apply scripting and GMT skills to plot travel times and ray paths

11:00 am
12:00 pm

LUNCH

12:00 pm
1:30 pm

Advanced Unix/shell scripting/GMT (continued) – Stefany

  • Apply scripting and GMT skills to plot earthquake magnitudes, seismic tomography, and earthquake cross-sections

1:30 pm
3:00 pm

Data Services Part 1: Data and Data Access - Danielle and Chuck

3:00 pm
3:30 pm

BREAK

3:30 pm
5:00 pm

SAC/MATLAB + research vignette – Rob and Justin

  • Powerpoint describing SAC script
  • Powerpoint describing MATLAB script
  • Basics: Data reading, processing, plotting (SAC and MATLAB scripts)
  • Exercise - Wavefield Animations (half in SAC, half in matlab)

5:00 pm
5:30 pm

Review and discuss topics covered, expectations, concerns, etc.

Introduction of Concept Map - Stefany

5:30 pm
5:30 pm

ADJOURN

6:30 pm
7:30 pm

Cash Bar and Introductions (Mt. Everest Restaurant, 630 Church Street)

7:30 pm
9:00 pm

DINNER

Day 2: Accessing data, how to approach coding, and structural analyses

7:30 am
8:15 am

BREAKFAST

8:15 am
8:30 am

Depart for Library

8:30 am
9:30 am

Data Services Part 2: Data Access Tools and Data Products

9:30 am
11:30 am

Intro to Python + Research Vignette – Erin

  • Why Use Python?
  • Introduction to Python and Jupyter Notebooks
  • ObsPy Examples

11:30 am
12:30 pm

LUNCH

12:30 pm
2:00 pm

AIMBAT (pick P-wave delay times) + research vignette – Suzan

  • Quick tour of visualization capabilities
  • Introduction on how to use ttpick.py
  • Measure delay times of teleseismic P waves for a particular earthquake

2:00 pm
3:00 pm

FuncLab (analyze receiver functions)  – Rob

  • Design project - study area, query data availability (via FuncLab or web)
  • Pull data and process RFs (within FuncLab or via shell scripts)
  • Creating a FuncLab project
  • Trace editing for quality control
  • Visualizing dataset

3:00 pm
3:30 pm

BREAK

3:30 pm
5:00 pm

SplitLab (measure shear wave splitting) + research vignette – Meghan

  • Define project – one station per project
  • Pull data from IRIS
  • Trace editing
  • Measure splitting
  • Create plots

5:00 pm
5:30 pm

Review and discuss topics covered, and organize into teams

Day 3: Waveform analyses and how to collect and utilize new data

7:30 am
8:15 am

BREAKFAST at hotel

8:15 am
8:30 am

Depart for Library

8:30 am
9:45 am

Basics of Coding – Chuck

  • Best Programming Practices Map
  • How to fact find
  • Scripting languages versus compiled software
  • The development, coding, debug cycle
  • Finding, developing, and including libraries
  • Handling exceptions and research versus bullet proof code
  • Version control (Git)

9:45 am
11:00 am

SAC waveform analysis – Stefany

  • Review of pre-course “homework”
  • Apply SAC with elocate and focmec to locate earthquakes

11:00 am
12:00 pm

Working with instrument responses – Suzan

  • What is an instrument response?
  • From counts to physical units
  • Removing the instrument response

12:00 pm
1:00 pm

LUNCH

1:00 pm
3:00 pm

Database approach + research vignette – Heather

  • Tutorial: Relational database foundations
  • Examples of tables and schema used for temporary networks
  • Example: Local earthquake location and cross-correlation with GISMO and MATLAB
  • Example using ObsPy (if time)

3:00 pm
3:30 pm

BREAK

3:30 pm
5:30 pm

Students organize into project teams, select experiment/stations, setup data grabs, begin analyses, etc.

In several smaller groups during this session, conduct seismic station demonstration – Justin

5:30 pm
5:45 pm

Review and discuss topics covered

ADJOURN

Day 4: Broader considerations and project work day

7:30 am
8:15 am

BREAKFAST at hotel

8:15 am
8:30 am

Depart for Library

8:30 am
9:30 am

Seismic stations and Data – Justin Sweet

  • Reading metadata
  • Data structure (not in-depth)
  • Exercise - assessing station quality from timeseries data or metrics (LASSO and MUSTANG)

9:30 am
12:00 pm

Active source data processing + research vignette – Marianne

  • Reflection and Refraction Data
  • Introduction to processing (acquisition, geometry, stacking)
  • Exercise: Seismic Unix

12:00 pm
1:00 pm

LUNCH

1:00 pm
1:30 pm

Tips for creating and delivering effective powerpoint presentations – Danielle

Credit: Scott St. George, University of Minnesota

1:30 pm
3:00 pm

Work on projects

3:00 pm
3:30 pm

BREAK

3:30 pm
5:30 pm

Work on projects

5:30 pm
6:30 pm

Final advice on presentations

7:00 pm
9:00 pm

Celebratory Dinner (Todoroki, 526 Davis St.)

Day 5: Group Presentations and Summary

7:30 am
8:15 am

Breakfast at hotel

8:15 am
8:30 am

Depart for library

8:30 am
11:00 am

Group presentations (data, methods, observations, analysis, results: 15-20 minutes per group, 8 groups)

11:00 am
12:15 pm

LUNCH (and group photo)

12:15 pm
1:30 pm

Surveys – Danielle

1:30 pm
2:15 pm

Wrap-up discussion and summary

ADJOURN

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Material from agenda

    Notice The application period for this course closed on Mon, May 16, 2016 - 11:59:00 PM.

    Important Dates
  • Short Course Dates:
    Aug 1st – 5th
  • Registration:
    Apr 22nd – May 16th
  • Location
    Northwestern University