Midlands Consortium 2012
Session descriptions
Introduction to the use of Matlab
Wednesday 24th October 2012
Time: 2pm
Department of Geography
Bennett Building
University of Leicester
University Road
Leicester LE1 7RH
Convenor: Dr. Ross Morrison
Please contact convenor for information about this course rdm11@leicester.ac.uk
Matlab is a software package that is widely used for scientific data analysis. It is particularly useful for handling and analysing large datasets. For those with no previous experience in programming, learning how to effectively use a tool such as Matlab often involves a steep learning curve. This session introduces some basic programming techniques in Matlab. The session will introduce the Matlab environment and will cover aspects of data import/export, some basic mathematical and statistical applications, plotting and some basic programming control structures (selection statements, loops, etc.). The session will use examples from meteorological datasets.
Environmental Magnetism and Gamma emitting Radionuclides
Date: Wednesday 31st October 2012
Location: Newton 013. Newton Building, Avenue Campus, Northampton
Time: 1400-1700
School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton
Convenor: Ian Foster
Contact: ian.foster@northampton.ac.uk
We will look at the background theory to the use of environmental magnetism and gamma spectrometry for dating sediment sequences and tracing sediment sources in a range of environments. The session will be divided roughly equally between the two major subject areas and practical demostrations of the following will be provided:
Gamma spectrometry laboratory – mostly for the analysis of Pb-210 & Cs-137 but also capable of measuring the activities of any gamma-emitting radionuclides between ~ 40 and 1500 keV. Three detectors are available in a ‘well’ configuration, thereby maximising measurement efficiency and minimising sample mass required to obtain reliable measurements. Pb-210 and Cs-137 are used for dating sedimentary sequences (e.g. peat bogs, lake and floodplain sediments) over the past ~150 years. They can also be used, along with other gamma-emitting radionculides, for sediment source tracing in contemporary environmental systems.
Environmental Magnetism laboratory – houses a range of equipment, including a Bartington Magnetic susceptibility system for low and high frequency susceptibility measurements at room temperature plus a range of portable instruments for direct measurement of volume susceptibility in the field. The laboratory also contains a Molspin ARM demagnetiser, high field (1T) pulse magnetiser and spinner magnetometer and a particle size analyser. These facilities are designed to characterise (fingerprint) actively transported and / or deposited sediments in a range of different environments.
Contaminated land & geotechnical description of soils
Thursday 1 November
9am -1pm
Room: A30 (Swinnerton Laboratory)
School of Geography, University of Nottingham
Contact: Paul Nathanail lgzpcn@exmail.nottingham.ac.uk
This session comprises a lecture overviewing risk based contaminated land management (0900-1100) and a hands-on exercise on the geotechnical description of soils (1100-1300).
The lecture will provide an overview of the desk study and intrusive investigation stages of contaminated land characterisation; risk assessment and remediation.
The practical session will introduce the principles behind standard soil descriptions in accordance with ISO 14688 & ISO 14689 – Soil and Rock Description.
Spatial Analysis in Biogeography
Wednesday 07 November 2012
1.30pm-5pm (students who are not from Nottingham please arrive at 1.15 pm to get passwords etc. organised)
Graduate Computing Laboratory (B26e)
School of Geography, University of Nottingham
Convenor: Richard Field, Associate Professor in Biogeography, School of Geography, University of Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~lgzwww/contacts/staffPages/richardfield/rf.htm
Contact: richard.field@nottingham.ac.uk
Aims.
1. To introduce you to recent developments in spatial analysis, as applicable to biogeography and ecology (though almost all the techniques are relevant also to other areas of geography), including analysis of spatial structure, spatial autocorrelation and dependence, spatial non-stationarity and eigenvector-based filtering.
2. To introduce you to the free, easy-to-use software Spatial Analysis in Macroecology (SAM), which also includes relevant GIS functionality.
Activities. The session will start with an overview of the theoretical issues, in seminar form. You will then learn by using SAM on an example dataset of South American species richness, climate and species trait data. As a class, we will work through exercises in spatial data exploration, spatial correlation, spatial regression and variance partitioning, geographically weighted regression and (if time) spatial filtering, at a pace determined by you. We will also use principal components analysis in SAM, which automatically maps the resulting components, and we will use SAM to calculate species richness rapidly for species with particular traits.
Pre-requisite. A working knowledge of correlation and regression (non-spatial) is assumed.
Introduction to distributed cartography
Wednesday 14th November 2012
Time: TBC
Department of Geography
Bennett Building
University of Leicester
University Road
Leicester LE1 7RH
Convenor: Dr. Alex Nobajas
Please contact convenor for information about this course an179@mail.cfs.le.ac.uk
With the advent of internet based maps the general public has become increasingly familiar with web based mapping applications. This commodification of cartography has had its lights and shadows (as Iphone 5 users will be well aware of) but it has also provided scientists with a tool which can be used to share research results with the general public or gather geographical data. In this session a brief explanation about the different available options will be followed by a hands on practical in creating on-line maps by using Google’s Fusion Tables. A Google account is required for the session, but a dummy account can be created ad hoc.
An introduction to multivariate analysis: finding patterns in your data by ordination
Wednesday 21 November 2012
Time: 10am-1pm
Room: NN.1.17, Martin Hall
Geography Department, Loughborough University
Contact: David Ryves - D.B.Ryves@lboro.ac.uk
This session will provide a basic introduction to graphical methods of finding and displaying patterns within large and complex multivariate datasets, using the Canoco and Canodraw packages (NB many multivariate analyses and creation of high-quality graphs can now be carried out using the R language, and participants are referred to this session; see below). Examples of both environmental and ecological datasets will be given.
Topics will include:
The publishing process and getting published in the Earth sciences
Wednesday 21 November 2012
2pm-5pm
Geography Department, Loughborough University
Convenor: Jo Bullard J.E.Bullard@lboro.ac.uk & Steve Rice S.Rice@lboro.ac.uk
This seminar will consider publication by early career researchers in academic journals in the field of earth sciences and will explain the process behind getting a paper published. It will answer questions such as:
dGPS
Wednesday 28 November 2012
2pm
Room RG3
Bramley Building
School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences
Nottingham Trent University
Brackenhurst
NG25 0QF
Convenor: Jill Labadz
Contact: jillian.labadz@ntu.ac.uk
Traditional methods of topographic survey remain important for field research in Physical Geography but are increasingly being supplemented by use of survey-quality (approx 2cm error) differential GPS with real-time correction. This session will provide students with experience of a small survey together with data downloading and processing.
Introduction to the use of R
Wednesday 5th December 2012
Time: 10am
Location: TBC
School of Geography, University of Nottingham
Convenor: George Swann, (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/geography/people/George.Swann)
Contact: george.swann@nottingham.ac.uk
Links to relevant websites http://cran.r-project.org/
R is a programming language and software environment that can be used for statistical analysis and generating high quality graphics. Acting as an alternative to proprietary software such as MATLAB, R is 1) 100% free; 2) boasts a vast number of add-on packages to extend R's functions/capabilities; 3) is widely used by both statisticians and climate change/environmental scientists. This session will provide an initial introduction to the R environment. In the first half, participants will understand how to use R, import/export data, install add-on packages and carry out a range of statistical analyses. The second half of the session will demonstrate the ability of R to produce both simple and complex graphics that can be used in presentations, publications and theses.
Please note that this session will not be a “statistics class” and participants will be expected to already have a good background in statistics.
Stream Reconnaissance
Date 5th December 2012
Time 1pm
Meet: details to follow from convenor
Convenor: Colin Thorne
Contact: colin.thorne@nottingham.ac.uk
This training session centres on the use of Stream Reconnaissance as a means of rapidly characterising and evaluating river channel form and process. Stream Reconnaissance takes many forms and is applied in a variety of contexts including river research, management and restoration. This exercise uses a technique developed and described by Thorne (1998) that is typical of the approaches widely employed in the UK and USA. The study stream is the River Ecclesborne at Duffield, Derbyshire, and reconnaissance will a field trip to encompass two contrasting reaches; one that may be classed as semi-natural and a second that has been heavily modified for flood defence.
Reference
Thorne, C.R., 1998. Stream Reconnaissance Handbook. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, United Kingdom, 133 pp.