MATLAB and Python Recipes for Earth Sciences – Page 33 – Martin H. Trauth, University of Potsdam, Germany

February 21, 2017August 12, 2017

MATLAB-Based Detection of the Orientation of Handaxes

Some archeological sites in East Africa revealed unusual accumulations of Acheulean handaxes, such as in Olorgesailie in Southern Kenya (see photo above) and in Kariandusi in Central Kenya. It has been debated whether these accumulations were a result of fluvial reworking or of in situ deposition by hominins. A MATLAB-based algorithm to automatically determine the orientation of handaxes in excavation plans helps to test the preferred orientation of stone tools as the result of fluvial reworking.

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February 19, 2017December 11, 2020

Merging SRTM Files in MATLAB

The free 1-arc minute Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data are very popular digital terrain models (DEM). Here is a script for merging and visualizing multiple SRTM data sets to larger DEMs with MATLAB. Continue reading “Merging SRTM Files in MATLAB”

February 18, 2017February 26, 2020

The Story of the MRES Book

The success of the MRES book surprised me. Wolfgang Engel, the late editor of Springer, obviously had a good nose after we first met at the AGU conference in San Francisco in December 2004. Here is the story to the book.

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February 17, 2017March 30, 2017

Sample Size: How Many is Enough?

What is a good sample size? How many replicate measurements do we need to make inferences about a population from the sample? There are scientific articles on this subject, such as the one by H.W. Austin (1983), of which the title of the blog post is borrowed. There is no universal answer to this question. It depends very much on the studied phenomenon and the requirements on the results. Here is a nice example of how MATLAB helps to get a sense of the relationship between sample size and quality of the result.

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February 16, 2017February 17, 2017

MathWorks Supports Curriculum Development

MathWorks supports the curriculum development of the MATLAB/LEGO MINDSTORMS Environmental Remote Sensing Lab by Martin H. Trauth, in collaboration with Jens Tronicke and Bodo Bookhagen. Sebastian Gross, Senior Education Technical Specialist of MathWorks, advises us on all matters involving the development of the new curriculum. The course for undergraduate and graduate students aims to improve their skills to build efficient teams to solve typical problems in earth sciences in acquiring, processing and analyzing typical multispectral, geophysical and geometric data. The progress of course development as well as course materials will be provided on this blog.

February 15, 2017March 30, 2017

SERC Teaching Geoscience with MATLAB

Lisa Kempler, MATLAB Community Strategist at MathWorks, runs a great website at the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota USA. The website provides a collection of geoscience-related MATLAB applications. Continue reading “SERC Teaching Geoscience with MATLAB”

February 14, 2017March 30, 2017

Outliers and Correlation Coefficients

Pearson’s linear product-moment correlation coefficient is highly sensitive to outliers, as can be illustrated by the following example. Several alternatives exist, such as Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and the Kendall’s tau rank correlation coefficient, both contained in the Statistics and Machine Learning Toolbox. Continue reading “Outliers and Correlation Coefficients”

February 13, 2017April 6, 2017

Creating Animated 3D Files with MATLAB

Since the introduction of electronic devices with touch controls, interactive 3D graphics objects have become increasingly popular in multimedia electronic books (ebooks). The Simulink 3D Animation available from The MathWorks, Inc. provides the necessary tools to create and export 3D graphics objects for inclusion in documents such as multimedia ebooks, interactive webpages, and presentations. Continue reading “Creating Animated 3D Files with MATLAB”